British Superbike riders head into Assen’s first turn.

A chaotic British Superbike Championship (BSB) weekend in the Netherlands saw Showdown riders involved in a raft of incidents and the title fight close to just a single point margin.

Polesitter Alex Lowes took the early lead in Sunday’s first race but it was Milwaukee Yamaha’s James Ellison who was able to move by the Samsung Honda to establish himself at the front for the initial stages.

Behind him, Lowes and Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki’s Shayne Byrne were involved in their own scrap for the minor podium placings before finding themselves elevated into contention for the lead when Ellison retired from the race with a mechanical issue.

Lowes and Byrne went blow for blow across the closing laps, trading places no less than six times on their final tour of the TT circuit with Lowes crossing the line with a 0.102-second margin in his favour.

The second Milwaukee Yamaha of Tommy Bridewell registered third place in his race debut with the team, with Josh Brookes taking solid points for fourth despite struggling for much of the weekend.

Fifth went to Rapid Solicitor’s Kawasaki’s Nori Haga who fended off the advances of Jakub Smrz by less than a tenth of a second.

The opening race proved relatively tame in comparison to the second and final stanza in Assen that saw a number of front-runners involved in incident.

Off the start it was Byrne with the early lead from Lowes and Haga, with the Japanese rider able to make an important pass on his teammate’s primary title rival to take second.

Lowes had other ideas and wrestled the place back, with Ellison advancing to third. Bridewell and Haga had been running in close quarters within the top five and when the former went down he clipped the latter, taking both out of the race.

Moments later Lowes would clip the rear wheel of Byrne at high-speed, resulting in a huge crash for the points leader, forcing the deployment of the safety car.

Within two laps of the race resumption Aussie Brookes suffered a crash, bringing his weekend to an early end, while out front it was Lowes who took the flag first from Ellison and Jacobsen.

A post-race ruling saw Lowes excluded from the results of the second race, handing the win to Ellison and moving Ryuichi Kiyonari onto the podium.

Byrne maintains his lead over Lowes by a single point, with Ellison running third but rueing his race one mechanical which cost him top placing in the BSB title race heading to Silverstone.

Brookes sits third, just three points off Ellison, but clearly lacking his regular pace and confidence on the Tyco Suzuki.

MarTrain Yamaha’s Stuart Easton backed up his sprint race result by leading the Assen Supersport feature from start to finish.

A close battle pack scrapped for placings behind him, with the minor podium positions argued over until the wave of the chequered flag.

Gearlink Kawasaki’s Ben Wilson looked to have locked down second before the Samsung Honda of Aussie Jason O’Halloran found his way by, leaving Wilson to contend with teammate Alastair Seeley for third.

Richard Cooper, who had run as high as second on the Oxford TAG Triumph, secured fifth, while Australian Smiths Triumph teammates Glen Richards and Billy McConnell took sixth and 10th respectively.

Easton leads the Supersport title race by 22 points from Seeley, with McConnell a further 60 points adrift.

2013 British Superbike Championship
Round 10 – Assen, Netherlands

Superbike race one top 10:
1. Alex LOWES
2. Shane BYRNE +0.102
3. Tommy BRIDEWELL +7.934
4. Josh BROOKES +11.648
5. Noriyuki HAGA +18.893
6. Jakub SMRZ +19.125
7. PJ JACOBSEN +19.216
8. James WESTMORELAND +22.968
9. Jon KIRKHAM +23.087
10. Barry BURRELL +29.579

Superbike race two top 10:
1. James ELLISON
2. PJ JACOBSEN +9.283
3. Ryuichi KIYONARI +12.689
4. Jon KIRKHAM +14.071
5. James WESTMORELAND +19.165
6. Chris WALKER +24.356
7. Peter HICKMAN +24.443
8. Danny DE BOER +24.960
9. Dan LINFOOT +26.002
10. Barry BURRELL +26.023

Superbike championship standings (after round 10 of 12):
1. Shane BYRNE 559
2. Alex LOWES 558
3. James ELLISON 538
4. Josh BROOKES 535
5. Ryuichi KIYONARI 522
6. James WESTMORELAND 519
7. Jon KIRKHAM 385
8. PJ JACOBSEN 415
9. Tommy BRIDEWELL 142
10. Chris WALKER 133

Supersport feature:
1. Stuart EASTON
2. Jason O’HALLORAN +1.146
3. Ben WILSON +1.551
4. Alastair SEELEY +1.920
5. Richard COOPER +4.696
6. Glen RICHARDS +4.776
7. Luke MOSSEY +4.790
8. Kervin BOS +7.705
9. Taylor MACKENZIE +10.270
10. Graeme GOWLAND +14.519
11. Billy MCCONNELL (AUS) +14.667

Supersport championship standings (after round 10 of 12):
1. Stuart EASTON 351
2. Alastair SEELEY 329
3. Billy McCONNELL 269
4. Ben WILSON 263
5. Graeme GOWLAND 211
6. Jason O’HALLORAN 180
7. Glen RICHARDS 140
8. Richard COOPER 127
9. Taylor MACKENZIE 99
10. Glenn IRWIN 94

Click here for detailed results