By Dan Moakes
August 30 2013

One man had taken victory in two-thirds of the races held so far in the 2013 British Superbike Championship, with only five different riders making it onto the podium. Shane Byrne led the way for the title winning Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki team, with round seven at Oulton Park.

The second visit of the season to Oulton saw a triple header of races across the weekend, the first of them on Saturday. In qualifying, Byrne and his three main challengers were among the five fastest men, joined by the rookie from the US, PJ Jacobsen. The Tyco Suzuki rider was, on this occasion, ahead of team leader Josh Brookes, with the Australian fifth and PJ third. Byrne was second, with Samsung Honda man Alex Lowes on pole, and with James Ellison fourth for Milwaukee Yamaha.

Tommy Bridewell was also on form, the 24-year-old back on the grid having joined the Halsall Racing Team. On the Kawasaki, Tommy qualified sixth, one place better than he had previously managed with the Bathams Honda. Michael Rutter’s Bathams-backed machine would start from P13. The best of the BMW runners was seventh man Jon Kirkham for the Buildbase team, with team-mate James Westmoreland back in tenth. Dan Linfoot had his best run to date on the GBmoto Honda to take eighth slot.

Between Linfoot and Westmoreland was Byrne’s team-mate Keith Farmer, who had suffered a big crash in practice. Chris Walker was in P11 for Quattro Plant Kawasaki, from Peter Hickman (Lloyds British GBmoto Racing Honda), Rutter, Karl Harris (PR Racing Kawasaki), Josh Waters (Milwaukee Yamaha) and Jakub Smrž (Padgett’s Honda). Ryuichi Kiyonari, many times a winner here, was outside the top sixteen on the second Samsung Honda.

Oulton Park
Form guide: BSB wins
Ryuichi Kiyonari · 2005, 2005, 2006, 2006, 2007, 2007, 2010, 2010, 2010, 2011
Shane Byrne · 2003, 2003, 2008, 2008, 2012, 2013
Chris Walker · 1997, 2000, 2012
Michael Rutter · 1998, 2002, 2005
Alex Lowes · 2013

Race one saw Byrne take the lead from the start, but only holding onto it until Lowes went ahead at Island Bend, a fast left-hander. Brookes ran third, with Ellison getting through into fourth at the next braking zone, for the right-looping Shell Oils Corner, at the expense of Jacobsen. Then it was Walker, Bridewell, Westmoreland and Kirkham. The Hizzys chicane, a right-left-right, saw Byrne pushed back one more place to third by Brookes. However, an incident quickly brought things to a halt, when Farmer went down as his bike expired, dropping oil or coolant and catching out one or two others.

The race was red-flagged and duly restarted, but with Farmer, Jacobsen and Howie Mainwaring (Tsingtao Kawasaki) having to line up at the back of the grid. This time Byrne led only until Lowes got through at Old Hall Corner, the first right-hander, with Ellison third, from Kirkham, Walker, Bridewell, Rutter and Linfoot. Ellison was the man to watch initially, overtaking Brookes on the inside for Lodge Corner, the final right-hander, then doing the same thing to Lowes at Old Hall. Byrne was back to fourth at the point when he re-passed Brookes at The Avenue, going down the hill beyond Old Hall.

Rutter dropped from the leading group early on, the order then being Ellison, Lowes, Byrne, Brookes, Kirkham, Bridewell, Walker, Linfoot, Westmoreland, Kiyonari and Jacobsen. However, Westmoreland would soon have to make a pit visit, not long after Mainwaring had also stopped off there with a terminal problem. Up front, Ellison seemed to be stretching away, but Byrne was certainly right with second man Lowes. He got past on the outside line at Island, only for Alex to fight back right away; but next time ‘Shakey’ took the inside line and made it stick.

This allowed Byrne to close in on leader Ellison in the closing stages, to the point where he looked like challenging for the win. The second half of the final lap saw James capably defend his position, however, coming home for only his second victory of the season. Lowes was a secure third, with Brookes fourth and just ahead of Bridewell. Kiyonari was sixth, from Jacobsen, despite clutch problems, and with Kirkham back to eighth.

Ninth place went to Walker, ahead of Linfoot, Farmer, Hickman, Rutter, Waters, Matteo Baiocco (Rapido Sport Racing Ducati), Smrž, Martin Jessopp (Riders Motorcycles BMW), Barry Burrell (in his first race with Quattro Plant Kawasaki), Lee Costello (Halsall Racing Kawasaki) and Aaron Zanotti (Aaron Zanotti Racing Suzuki).

Second time out, the new grid, based as ever on fastest race lap times, saw pole occupied by Byrne, from Lowes, Ellison, Kiyonari, Bridewell, Brookes, Kirkham, Jacobsen, Walker, Linfoot, Farmer, Westmoreland, Rutter, Hickman (who would in fact start from the pits), Waters and Harris. The start of race two had Byrne leading away, but only until Lowes came through on the inside at Old Hall. Ellison was third, from Brookes, Kiyonari, Walker, Kirkham, Farmer, Bridewell, Rutter, Linfoot, Westmoreland, Waters and Mainwaring.

In the early stages, the five leaders began to pull clear of the rest, with Kirkham heading the pursuit as Walker had to go for the pits. A fierce contest for the lead would develop between Lowes and Byrne, with the Kawasaki man getting the nod at Lodge, only for his Honda rival to retake the place right away at Old Hall. A subsequent effort by Shakey at Lodge worked for him as Ellison immediately went past Alex at Old Hall, with Brookes soon in position to push the Samsung rider further back at Lodge. Byrne seemed likely to start edging away, until Brookes took over in second when Ellison left a gap at Shell that gave a chance for the Australian to pass: Josh was then able to keep Shane honest.

That meant that Byrne headed Brookes, with a small gap back to Ellison, Lowes and Kiyonari. This would change when two of these bikes got very close at Island Bend, where James, on the outside of Alex, found he had to take off onto the grass and very quickly bailed out. That left four leaders, with Kiyo just about hanging on to the trio ahead, and on the last lap Lowes was again in the centre of the action. Firstly he tried to get on the inside of Brookes through Island, where the Suzuki man kept his line and fended off the challenge. Then, at Lodge Corner, Alex lost the front for a lowside crash, ending his race and letting Kiyonari into a podium finish behind Byrne and Brookes. Indeed, it was his 80th BSB podium, as well as the 100th for a Japanese rider - Yukio Kagayama and Noriyuki Haga being the other contributors.

Jacobsen had made good progress to finish in sixth, behind Bridewell (fourth) and Kirkham; and the remaining finishers were Linfoot, Farmer, Westmoreland, Mainwaring, Waters, Hickman, Baiocco, Costello, Jessopp, Burrell, Smrž, Rutter and Jenny Tinmouth (Two Wheel Racing Honda). The race had also provided a significant landmark in Shane Byrne’s career, as he recorded his 50th British Superbike victory.

For race three, the starting grid would have Byrne on pole again, then Ellison. Lowes had been the third fastest man, but his move that had resulted in James’ crash was adjudged a bit harsh, and Alex was handed a four-place grid penalty. Therefore, Brookes was third, from Kiyonari, Bridewell, Jacobsen, Lowes, Kirkham, Linfoot, Westmoreland, Mainwaring, Farmer, Waters, Hickman, Smrž and Harris. The first four got away in unchanged order, but with Lowes passing team-mate Kiyonari for fourth at Cascades, the first left-hander.

Bridewell’s continued good form saw him run sixth, with Kirkham initially next, but soon to be pushed down the order by three places. Mainwaring would pass Farmer to run eighth behind Jacobsen, with Westmoreland and Linfoot rounding out the top twelve. Meanwhile, an early move from Ellison saw him take the lead from Byrne at Old Hall, only to leave enough room for the Kawasaki man to take it right back. Rutter was a casualty when his Honda dropped oil or fluid, leading to a safety car period.

On the restart, Lowes passed Brookes for third on the inside at Old Hall; he then overtook Ellison at Island, thereby leaving the Yamaha man open to a successful move from the following Suzuki. Therefore Byrne led Lowes, Brookes, Ellison, Kiyonari, Bridewell and Jacobsen. Into Hizzys, Bridewell passed Kiyonari, with the Japanese rider going straight on and losing several places, meaning that it would soon be a five-man group at the head of the field.

Bridewell wasn’t done at that, overtaking Ellison for fourth place. Meanwhile, Brookes battled to relieve Lowes of second, getting through on the inside at the right-handed Druids Corner, but being put back behind at Lodge, the next corner. Josh got his move done going into Hizzys, using the inside line on the brakes, and was soon tussling for the lead with Byrne at Old Hall. The Australian finally got ahead at the Shell Oils hairpin, earning his very first victory at Oulton Park.

Lowes came under attack from Bridewell for third, with Tommy trying his luck on the inside at Lodge, where the two bikes touched. With Alex momentarily looking back, the Kawasaki man had his chance up the rise at Deer Leap, and was ahead. When Bridewell then ran wide at Island, Lowes was back in front, leaving his rival to deal with the attentions of Ellison. The final stages saw Byrne fight off Lowes, who ran wide at Old Hall as he made his passing move. On the penultimate lap, they made contact at Shell when Shane went a bit wide, but no harm came of it and Alex was left in third at the flag. Ellison and then Bridewell completed the top five finishers.

Some good progress put Westmoreland into sixth at the finish, ahead of Farmer, Mainwaring and Kirkham. Kiyonari recovered from a non-points position to take tenth, from Linfoot, Walker, Hickman, Smrž, Waters and Baiocco. Jacobsen missed out on this occasion, but maintained eighth position in the championship chase, behind the Buildbase BMW pair in the contest for the final Showdown slot.

Oulton Park’s triple header had seen race wins for James Ellison, Shane Byrne and Josh Brookes, yet championship leader Byrne was once again the top scorer across the weekend, with only Brookes close behind. Non-finishes for both Ellison and Alex Lowes meant more lost ground for both men, whereas Tommy Bridewell’s fifth-fourth-fifth put him back on track in a significant way, as he no doubt looks to chase his way back into contention. What awaits at Cadwell Park?

Standings after fifteen races: Byrne 297; Brookes 268; Lowes 243; Ellison 158; Kiyonari 142; Kirkham 126; Westmoreland 117; Jacobsen 90; Walker and Farmer 86.
podium credits: Byrne 33, Lowes 22, Brookes 21, Ellison 11, Kiyonari 4.