Exciting BSB showdown at Assen

Track action (photo by Double Red)Alex Lowes won an opening race thriller in the first Showdown round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Assen

but next time out the Samsung Honda rider went from hero to zero as he was excluded from what would have been a third consecutive winning double after an incident with Shane Byrne.

The two riders had duelled intensely in the first race at the Dutch circuit, trading places throughout in an epic contest with Lowes taking his seventh victory of the campaign to close within a single point of his Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki rival Byrne at the top of the standings.

The second was all set for more of the same as the two riders again duelled from the start but on the fourth lap as Lowes was closing in on Byrne going into a left hander, he hit the back of the Kawasaki at around 130mph.

Byrne crashed out of contention, suffering a gash and bruising to his left leg, while Lowes, who dropped to fourth re-grouped and fought back into contention to take the lead on the road ahead of Milwaukee Yamaha’s James Ellison with four laps remaining. Lowes was later excluded following a judicial after the incident for ‘causing contact which resulted in an accident’.

Ellison was credited with the victory ahead of the MCE BSB rookie PJ Jacobsen who gave the Tyco Suzuki team some cheer as their Title Fighter rider Josh Brookes had crashed out of the race. Former three times British champion Ryuichi Kiyonari took third place ahead of the Buildbase BMW duo of Jon Kirkham and James Westmoreland.

Results

Race one:
1: Alex Lowes (Samsung Honda)
2: Shane Byrne (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) +0.102s
3: Tommy Bridewell (Milwaukee Yamaha) +7.934s
4: Josh Brookes (Tyco Suzuki) +11.648s
5: Noriyuki Haga (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) +18.893s
6: Jakub Smrz (Padgetts Honda) +19.125s

Race two:
1: James Ellison (Milwaukee Yamaha) +1.542s
2: PJ Jacobsen (Tyco Suzuki) +10.825s
3: Ryuichi Kiyonari (Samsung Honda) +14.231s
4: Jon Kirkham (Buildbase BMW) +15.613s
5: James Westmoreland (Buildbase BMW) +20.707s
6: Chris Walker (Quattro Plant Bournemouth Kawasaki) +25.898s

Championship standings:
1: Shane Byrne (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) 559
2: Alex Lowes (Samsung Honda) 558
3: James Ellison (Milwaukee Yamaha) 538
4: Josh Brookes (Tyco Suzuki) 535
5: Ryuichi Kiyonari (Samsung Honda) 522
6: James Westmoreland (Buildbase BMW) 519

 

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