By Dan Moakes
September 16 2013

The 2013 British Superbike Championship: the story of Shane Byrne (Kawasaki) being pursued by Josh Brookes (Suzuki) and Alex Lowes (Honda). What was in store when the eighth round of the season took place at sinuous Cadwell Park?

Alex Lowes pictured in World Superbikes, 2011

Qualifying for the three-by-three grid at spectacular Cadwell saw three of the top four challengers secure front row starting positions but, with Brookes suffering a crash on the Tyco Suzuki, the Australian wasn’t one of them. Samsung Honda’s Lowes took his tenth pole position, joined at the front by Byrne on his Rapid Solicitors machine and third man James Ellison (Milwaukee Yamaha). Team-mate to Brookes, PJ Jacobsen was next, in fourth place, with Josh ‘only’ seventh.

The machinery mix saw a second Kawasaki in fifth, representing the best grid slot of the season for Tommy Bridewell, in his second meeting with Halsall Racing; then it was the second Honda, ridden by Samsung’s Ryuichi Kiyonari. Behind Brookes was Keith Farmer (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki), Peter Hickman (GBmoto Racing Honda) and Chris Walker (Quattro Plant Kawasaki), with Dan Linfoot for GBmoto in P12. The BMWs were not on their best form, with Buildbase-backed James Westmoreland a place ahead of Linfoot; and with team-mate Jon Kirkham, after a crash of his own, in P18.

Cadwell Park
Form guide: BSB wins
Chris Walker · 1998, 1998, 1999, 2000
Michael Rutter · 1997, 2004
Josh Brookes · 2010, 2010
Shane Byrne · 2003
James Ellison · 2009
Ryuichi Kiyonari · 2010

The start of race one saw Byrne ahead initially, but only until Lowes got through on the inside as they ran into the first left-hander at Coppice. Ellison was third, from Jacobsen, Brookes, Bridewell, Walker, Kiyonari and Hickman. Brookes was quick to get ahead of his team-mate for fourth, and the 20-year-old would also lose out to Bridewell at the braking zone as the Park Straight leads into the right-handed Park corner. From here on, PJ would be first of the pursuers, as the leading quintet stretched out of range of the rest.

There was not a lot in it up front, but making progress was Brookes as he passed Ellison for third at the right-handed, downhill Hairpin corner, where there was enough room for him to take away the inside line. James did not last a lot longer, his unfortunate exit coming at the famous Mountain section, where a left-right feeds into a leap over the uphill crest. On this occasion, the Yamaha’s suspension compressed enough for the engine to clip the kerb, and it resulted in the front end folding and the machine sliding off the course. Ellison showed decided frustration in his sixth no-score of the season. Michael Rutter had already gone out of the race.

The leading group was now Lowes, Byrne, Brookes and Bridewell, but with Tommy starting to lose ground to the title contenders. In truth, as the race went on, the gaps between all of these men would continue to expand, and the order stayed the same to the finish. Likewise, fifth man Jacobsen still had something in hand over Walker. Seventh went to Kiyonari, who had been headed by Hickman at one stage, and who duly took eighth, from Farmer, Westmoreland, Linfoot, Josh Waters (Milwaukee Yamaha), Kirkham, Barry Burrell (Quattro Plant Kawasaki), Jakub Smrž (Padgett’s Honda), Karl Harris (PR Kawasaki), Lee Costello (Halsall Kawasaki) and Matteo Baiocco (Rapido Ducati).

The new grid was of course based on fastest lap times, with Brookes being one of the main beneficiaries as he moved up to second, behind Lowes on pole. Bridewell was up to third, from Byrne, Ellison, Jacobsen, Kiyonari, Walker, Hickman, Westmoreland, Waters and Kirkham, with Farmer dropping back from his original third row start. For race two, this time it was Brookes to lead away in front of Lowes, but again the Honda man was not behind for long, his move for the lead coming on the inside at Park corner.

Lowes and Brookes led Bridewell, Ellison, Byrne, Kiyonari, Walker, Jacobsen, Hickman, Waters, Kirkham and Westmoreland, with the BMW pair about to swap places, then Howie Mainwaring, Linfoot and Burrell. And as before, the gap was already opening up between the first five and the rest of the field. Brookes seemed to be in attacking mood, but the first move came when he got a bit sideways just before the first right kink at Hall Bends, giving Bridewell the outside run.

With Lowes leading Bridewell, Brookes and Ellison, fifth man Byrne now started to fall behind. Similarly, Ellison was not quite matching the pace of the leaders, and he also started losing ground. Before long, Brookes recovered his position in second, with an inside move on Bridewell at Hairpin corner. From there, Tommy also found the gap ahead of him stretching slightly, so that the race for victory was finally between just Lowes and Brookes.

They were still close together going into the last lap, and Brookes made his move on the brakes for Park corner, taking the inside line and getting past. Josh led the race through the next right-hander at Chris Curve, the downhill right-left at the Gooseneck, and headed into the left at Mansfield, where it all went wrong. Brushing the inside kerb, the Suzuki went down in a lowside spill, bike and rider going off track. That was it for the Australian, and Lowes duly completed the double at his local circuit, with Bridewell, Ellison and Byrne in the next three places, and Kiyonari in a lonely fifth.

Tommy Bridewell therefore recorded his best BSB result to date, in second place, also only his second podium visit. At the same time he passed the 600-points scored mark for his BSB career. Walker maintained his position to the flag, taking sixth position and passing the 2400-points scored mark. His closest challenger in the race had been Jacobsen, but the rookie had fallen at the long right-handed Charlies bend. So seventh went to Hickman, from Waters, Westmoreland (now on 400-points in BSB), Kirkham, Linfoot, Harris, Rutter (Bathams Honda), Burrell and Baiocco.

Contrasting fortunes on the day meant that Alex Lowes closed the gap to leader Shane Byrne, whilst Josh Brookes fell back to third after losing out on a possible victory in race two - although all three are assured of their places in the Showdown. Meanwhile, Tommy Bridewell had given himself an outside shot at also making it into the top six, as his renewed front-running form on the Halsall team’s Kawasaki helped him close the gap to the BMW pair ahead. Now there is just one more round for those in contention to seal a championship Showdown spot, and therefore maintain a chance for title glory.

Standings after seventeen races: Byrne 330; Lowes 293; Brookes 284; Ellison 174; Kiyonari 162; Kirkham 135; Westmoreland 130; Bridewell 110; Walker 106; Jacobsen 101.
podium credits: Byrne 35, Lowes 28, Brookes 22, Ellison 12, Kiyonari 4, Bridewell 2.