Oulton BSB: Brookes strikes back in race three

Josh Brookes was relentless in his quest for victory in the final MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship race of the weekend at Oulton Park as the Milwaukee Yamaha rider put on a dominating show to halt Ryuichi Kiyonari score a hat trick of victories in Cheshire.

On a drying track Brookes instantly fired himself off the line to lead the pack and then consistently set lap times faster than his rivals to edge out an advantage. Brookes pushed hard lap after lap to maintain his lead over Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne in second to claim his fourth victory of the season and close again in the podium points standings.

Byrne was holding a comfortable second but then as the last three laps approached he was rapidly being closed down by the pack fighting for third position, led by Dan Linfoot. The Quattro Plant Kawasaki rider was holding third after making a move on Stuart Easton earlier in the race at Old Hall to put himself in contention for his first podium finish.

Linfoot and Easton had been swapping positions but behind they were also under threat from Kiyonari, Josh Waters, Tommy Bridewell and Chris Walker who had all been dicing over the opening laps.

Byrne was losing the gap and as the final laps got underway Linfoot made a move on lap 15 at Old Hall but the championship leader wasn’t giving an inch. He ran alongside the Quattro Plant Kawasaki rider on the run down Lakeside to move back ahead by the narrowest of margins.

Byrne held off Linfoot for second with the Yorkshire rider celebrating his first podium finish in the championship. He held off Kiyonari on the drag to the line from Deer Leep for the final time with Easton completing the top five.

Waters held off Walker for sixth place with Bridewell having to settle for eighth place on the second Milwaukee Yamaha. Jon Kirkham and Jakub Smrz completed a top ten that featured five different manufacturers.