Silverstone BSB: Brookes battles to race two win

Relentless by TAS Suzuki rider Josh Brookes has won the second race at Silverstone today to move up to third place in the championship after the race was red-flagged on the final lap due to Chris Walker’s Kawasaki dropping oil on the track.

It looked as though the race would follow the same script as race one with John Hopkins and Michael Laverty leading the group in the early stages of the race.

Hopkins then took the lead, and appeared to be in control before Tommy Hill lunged underneath him on lap nine.

Hopkins was unable to respond as Brookes followed Hill through, forcing the American wide. Brookes passed Hill two laps later and began to pull away, opening up a gap of 1.6secs before the red flag came out.

Despite several attempts by Swan Yamaha’s Michael Laverty, Hopkins managed to hold on to third spot and the championship lead. Hopkins leads the championship by eight points ahead of Tommy Hill. 

HM Plant Honda’s Shane Byrne finished fourth. Byrne led the race at one point, but had to throttle off after nearly running in to the back of Hopkins, which gave the following riders the opportunity to pass. Reigning champion Ryuichi Kiyonari is all but out of the title fight after finishing a lowly 13th.