Bridewell and Easton surprise Oulton Park BSB winners
Brookes battles to dual podiums in another strong showing.
Source: BSB.
Tommy Bridewell and Stuart Easton shared the victories in a dramatic, incident-packed third round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Oulton Park.
Defending champion Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne crashed out of contention in race two, handing the series lead to James Ellison.
Bridewell led the opening race at the Cheshire circuit, fending off the fierce challenge from Josh Brookes by 0.160s to celebrate the Tyco BMW team’s first victory. Byrne had completed the podium in the opening race as he briefly extended his lead in the standings.
Top of the Aussies was Brookes in second, while Jason O’Halloran was seventh, Josh Waters 12th and Billy McConnell 14th. A luckless Broc Parkes was an early casualty following an incident in the early laps.
The second race produced high drama as Ryuichi Kiyonari led the race, eager to make amends for a fifth place in the opening race for the Buildbase BMW team. Bridewell was pushing to take the advantage before he crashed his Tyco BMW, ending his hopes of a repeat winning performance.
Kiyonari and Byrne then had been battling intensely for the lead as the two title-winners diced furiously for the second victory of the day, but with just over two laps to go Kiyonari clipped the back of the PBM Kawasaki at Hizzys Chicane and the pair crashed out of contention.
The champions crashing out left a three-way scrap for the win between Stuart Easton, Ellison and Brookes. The Scottish PBM Kawasaki rider held off Ellison on the final dash to the finish to score his first victory since 2010 by 0.161s.
Michael Laverty enjoyed his best result of the season so far in fourth place on the Tyco BMW ahead of Honda Racing’s O’Halloran and Howie Mainwaring on the Quattro Plant Bournemouth Kawasaki.
McConnell improved to ninth this time around, with Waters remaining 12th and Parkes battling to cross the line in 22nd position for race two.
In Supersport Levi Day was 13th overall and fifth best of the Evo class runners in race one, before improving to a 12th/fourth finish in race two.
Meanwhile in Superstock 1000 David Johnson made his debut with Smiths Racing BMW for fifth position and in Superstock 600 Benjamin Currie was 14th for the round.
2015 British Superbike Championship
Round three – Oulton Park
Superbike race one results:
1. Tommy Bridewell
2. Josh Brookes (AUS)
3. Shane Byrne
4. Stuart Easton
5. Ryuichi Kiyonari
6. James Ellison
7. Jason O’Halloran (AUS)
8. Michael Laverty
9. Howie Mainwaring
10. Richard Cooper
12. Josh Waters (AUS)
14. Billy McConnell (AUS)
Superbike race two results:
1. Stuart Easton
2. James Ellison
3. Josh Brookes (AUS)
4. Michael Laverty
5. Jason O’Halloran (AUS)
6. Howie Mainwaring
7. Richard Cooper
8. Billy McConnell (AUS)
9. Chris Walker
10. Lee Jackson
12. Josh Waters (AUS)
22. Broc Parkes (AUS)
Superbike championship standings:
1. James Ellison 109
2. Shane Byrne 101
3. Josh Brookes (AUS) 94
4. Stuart Easton 80
5. Tommy Bridewell 53
6. Jason O’Halloran (AUS) 42
7. Michael Laverty 40
8. Ryuichi Kiyonari 39
9. Howie Mainwaring 37
10. Chris Walker 35
12. Billy McConnell (AUS) 31
16. Broc Parkes (AUS) 13
19. Josh Waters (AUS) 10
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