Source: BSB.

Milwaukee Yamaha’s Josh Brookes celebrated his first double win in the 2014 MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Thruxton, holding off his arch title rivals and triple champions Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne and Ryuichi Kiyonari with just 0.467s covering the top three in race two.

The Australian shrugged aside his disappointments of missing out on the podium in recent rounds as he proved he is ready to get his assault on the championship back on track as he bids to close down series leader Byrne.

Brookes fired ahead of Dan Linfoot from the local Quattro Plant Bournemouth Kawasaki team in the opener, then settled into rhythm to increase his lead over series leader Byrne who had pounded his Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki into second place.

Brookes took the victory by four seconds and said: “Once I was in front I focused on the strengths of my bike and kept pushing as hard as I could where I was strong. I maintained good lap times and the gap just grew and grew. It was exciting for me to win that race and get some points back on Shakey.”

Byrne held off the determined challenges from Buildbase BMW rider Ryuichi Kiyonari to take second from his Japanese rival with Linfoot finishing fourth. Next time out, Byrne was keen to make amends, forging into and early lead, but the race was red-flagged because of an oil spill.

On the restart Byrne made another flying start ahead of Linfoot, but Brookes was determined and moved from fourth to second in one fell swoop at the Club Chicane and then a lap later passed Byrne at Seagrave. This time Brookes was unable to break the triple champions but the Australian still claimed his second victory of the day by 0.204s from Byrne and Kiyonari.

Brookes said: “The second race was so much harder with Shakey and Dan in front of me battling and I didn’t want to caught up in anything. I threw caution to the wind, passing them and then got a small gap, but that came down to almost nothing. I think this double win proves we are ready to get this fight back on track for the championship.”

Linfoot continued his best performance of the season with a fourth place ahead of Lloyds British GBmoto Kawasaki’s Chris Walker and Jon Kirkham on the Halsall Bike Gear Kawasaki.

Australian Josh Waters scored 12-17 results and now sits 12th in the championship standings for Tyco Suzuki after six rounds.

Graeme Gowland scored an incredible Feature race victory in the second Motorpoint British Supersport Championship contest of the weekend with five riders vying for the victory and all of them separated by just 0.685s at the finish line.

Over 13 laps the leader was different each time they crossed the line and at the start Alastair Seeley headed the field from Luke Mossey and Gowland. However the battle for the podium positions continued to intensify throughout the race with the lead changing several times every lap.

Mossey hit the front of the pack on the second lap, but then Seeley was back ahead. The pair duelled for the position but soon Luke Jones was in the mix and he fired ahead of the pair to move to the front. His lead was then short lived as Mossey and then Gowland edged in front.

Seeley wasn’t giving up without a fight and by the tenth lap the Martrain Yamaha rider was back leading the pack, only to lose out to Mossey a lap later. The lead continued to change over the final half of the race and as it came to the final lap Billy McConnell and the Smiths Racing Triumph had the advantage.

However on the final lap Gowland made a decisive move into Club for the last time, dramatically moving from fourth place into the lead on the run down to the chicane.

Gowland defended hard and he held the position on the drag to the line from Mossey, McConnell and Jones, who made an impressive comeback after running wide and dropping down the order in the closing stages. Seeley held fifth from Luke Stapleford with Glenn Irwin holding off the charge from James Rispoli.

It was also a thriller in the Superstock 1000 ranks as Lee Jackson marginally won ahead of Danny Buchan and pole-setter Jason O’Halloran just 0.239s from victory. Meanwhile in Superstock 600 Benjamin Currie was 16th, Levi Day and James Mutton recording DNFs.

2014 British Superbike Championship
Round six – Thruxton

Superbike race one results:
1. Josh Brookes (AUS)
2. Shane Byrne
3. Ryuichi Kiyonari
4. Dan Linfoot
5. Chris Walker
6. Jon Kirkham
7. Stuart Easton
8. John Hopkins
8. Howie Mainwaring
10. Peter Hickman
12. Josh Waters (AUS)

Superbike race two results:
1. Josh Brookes (AUS)
2. Shane Byrne
3. Ryuichi Kiyonari
4. Dan Linfoot
5. Tommy Bridewell
6. Jakub Smrz
7. Chris Walker
8. John Hopkins
9. Michael Rutter
10. Patric Muff
17. Josh Waters (AUS)

Superbike championship standings:
1. Shane Byrne 261
2. Josh Brookes (AUS) 179
3. Ryuichi Kiyonari 139
4. James Ellison 124
5. Chris Walker 116
6. Dan Linfoot 112
7. Tommy Bridewell 91
8. Stuart Easton 80
9. John Hopkins 69
10. Richard Cooper 69
12. Josh Waters (AUS) 50

Supersport results:
1. Graeme Gowland
2. Luke Mossey
3. Billy McConnell (AUS)
4. Luke Jones
5. Alastair Seeley
6. Luke Stapleford
7. Glenn Irwin
8. James Rispoli
9. Bjorn Estment
10. Jake Dixon

Supersport championship standings:
1. Grameme Gowland 192
2. Billy Mcconnell (AUS) 191
3. Alastair Seeley 188
4. Luke Jones 152
5. Luke Stapleford 143
6. Glenn Irwin 138
7. Luke Mossey 118
8. Jake Dixon 98
9. Taylor Mackenzie 73
10. James Rispoli 64

Click here for detailed results