British Superbike 2019
Knockhill – Round 5
Images by David Yeomans
Danny Buchan of the FS3-Racing Kawasaki team took victory in the opening race at Knockhill, marking the fifth different winner in the premiere class in five rounds.
Scott Redding scored top honours in the second bout to reclaim the championship lead from Tommy Bridewell.
Josh Brookes went 8-4 for the weekend, while fellow Aussies Jason O’Halloran and Ben Currie failed to finish either race.
Jason O’Halloran suffered machine problems in both races which saw organisers give him the black-orange flag forcing his retirement from both races.
For Ben Currie his return from injury turned out to be a little premature with his injured foot not coping with the stress of the racing conditions which forced the young Victorian to pull out of the races.
In Superstock 1000 Levi Day suffered a DNF in race one due to a loosening boot starting to come adrift from his foot which forced him to pit. He then closed out the weekend with a 14 place result.
British Superbikes
BSB Superbikes Race 1
At the start of the opening race Tarran Mackenzie launched off the front row to lead the pack from pole-sitter Xavi Forés and Buchan with Christian Iddon and Jason O’Halloran in close contention. A moment for Forés dropped him behind Buchan on lap five and then the FS3-Racing Kawasaki rider was hunting down Mackenzie at the front.
Buchan was piling the pressure on Mackenzie at the front and with a decisive move at the Hairpin on lap five and then posted consistent lap times to begin to make a break from the pack. Mackenzie though crashed out of contention before mid-race distance ending his chance of a podium finish.
Buchan was untroubled at the front but behind the battle for second place went down to the wire as Scott Redding was cutting through the pack from his 16th place grid start; by the final ten laps the Be Wiser Ducati rider had closed down the battle for second with Forés leading Iddon.
Redding had closed the gap and with three laps to go he made a move at turn five on Iddon to move ahead of the Tyco BMW rider and then repeated the move a lap later to move into second place as Forés held third.
Redding celebrated a determined second place finish ahead of Forés and Iddon who claimed Tyco BMW’s best result of the season. Tommy Bridewell was fifth ahead of Bradley Ray and Luke Mossey. Luke Stapleford and Glenn Irwin completed the top ten.
BSB Superbikes Race 2
In race two Redding returned to the top of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship podium at Knockhill, mastering the Scottish circuit to claim the race two victory for Be Wiser Ducati and move back to the top of the standings by four points.
At the start of the race Mackenzie claimed the initial advantage into turn one, but Buchan carved ahead just a corner later to put the FS3-Racing Kawasaki back at the front of the field. Redding was in third and he moved second on lap two with a move at the Hairpin on the Be Wiser Ducati.
Iddon had been sitting in eighth place but a crash at turn four on the third lap left the Tyco BMW with a fractured left fibula. The BMW Safety Car was deployed and as the pack formed up behind, Buchan, Redding and Mackenzie were the leading trio with Josh Brookes, Ray and Bridewell next in line.
Redding was instantly on the attack when the race resumed and after two laps he had pulled a decisive move on Buchan to take the lead. Buchan and Mackenzie then were embroiled in a battle for second, but Bridewell was also on the move and desperate to forge his way further up the order.
By lap 17 Buchan had made a move on Redding to regain the lead, but a lap later an unfortunate crash saw the FS3-Racing Kawasaki rider tumble out of the action unhurt. That gave Redding the advantage he needed and he was able to hold the advantage until the race was red flagged on lap 25 when Ray suffered a mechanical failure and subsequently affected the track conditions.
Mackenzie had been eager to make amends for his race one crash and he was able to hold off Bridewell in the closing stages as the pair completed the race two podium with Brookes and Andrew Irwin completing the top five.
Peter Hickman had been giving chase to Ray before his technical problem and that meant the Smiths Racing BMW rider claimed sixth place ahead of Dan Linfoot and Mossey who held off Glenn Irwin and James Ellison.
Danny Buchan – Race One Winner
“It’s still not sunk in yet and I’m pretty overwhelmed by it, it was such a long first race. At the beginning of the race I actually hit Taz (Mackenzie), I hit his exhaust going down the straight. It was a good race and I knew I could do a good job, mid race onwards I settled into a rhythm and brought the bike home and took my first win. Credit to the FS3 team for all their hard work that they have put in, to pick up my first win and the team’s first BSB win, it has been a long time coming. I’ve been trying and trying it’s been a stressful three years for everyone around me. Thanks to all my family and friends who have always supported me.”
Scott Redding – Race Two Winner
“Scotland is great! Danny (Buchan) is the man at Knockhill this weekend – he has been strong in the wet and dry. He won the first race so he had that confidence, I was confident as well as I came through I knew I had the pace. I didn’t really want to lead. I wanted to learn as I am still learning the tracks so when he came by he was pulling away, but I could catch him so I was like, just stay there. The Safety Car came out and I just thought, ‘ok regroup’, we went again and he had a little moment and I thought should I just stay behind? And I thought no I will just try and lead a little bit and see how it goes. I led a couple of laps and felt good, then I think I ran a bit wide in to one of the corners and Danny came by and I thought, that’s alright I will try and stay and learn. I learnt a little bit through the chicane and I thought I will just stay here and have a dig at the end and he lost the front and I thought, oh now I am leading again! I picked my pace up and then it was done. The race was good, I am happy to have the win with the second this morning; people said will Redding manage the British tracks once we get to Knockhill – now we know!”
Josh Brookes – 8-4
“To be honest, I’m glad to be leaving Knockhill as it hasn’t been a great weekendand I’m disappointed for the whole team as everyone’s been working hard and putting in as much effort as always. It just hasn’t clicked for me this weekend and although it started well on Friday, it came to a halt after that and we never really progressed with our pace stuck at that level. The weather made it tough although it was the same for everyone, but we made some small improvements for the second race and salvaged a half decent result with fourth. I wish we were going to Snetterton straightaway to clear my head but it’s been a good circuit to me in the past and I’m confident the Be Wiser Ducati will work well there so I’ll be looking to bounce back strongly and get back to the front.”
Xavi Forés – 3-11
“It’s been a bitter sweet weekend at Knockhill, but we do have many positives to take away. I wasn’t expecting at all to take the pole position yesterday, or finish on the podium! Being back on the podium after the results at Brands was like a victory for me and the team, I’m happy as we were there in dry conditions, so we are making good steps with the Fireblade, but we do still have some work to do. The second race was hard, I started from 13th and made it hard work for myself to get back up into the leading pack. During the race I felt I was defending rather than attacking and it was hard work, the wind at the circuit also picked up and that didn’t help. But I think moving to the next round we have to take the positives with us from this weekend and remind ourselves that we can be up there, have the pace and finish on the podium.”
Tarran Mackenzie – DNF-2
“I’m leaving with a smile on my face, which is nice I was very annoyed with myself for crashing out of the first race. There was a backmarker in front of Danny and I tried to stick to the left as the inside of the track was so wet and I was on the dirty part of the track and it caught me out. Fortunately we made amends in race two. I put together a good pace towards the end of the race, Scott was probably a bit too far away but it got cut short anyway. It’s nice after what happened at Brands, I’m happy to finish second and come away with some solid points.”
Jason O’Halloran – DNF-DNF
“We worked hard this weekend and were fourth quickest overall after practice. Then the rain came for qualifying and I ended up eighth on the grid but I was feeling good for race day. Conditions were really hard in race one with a narrow dry line. I was up to fifth when I unfortunately had to retire with a technical problem. I was given a penalty for race two and ended up 21st on the grid, but I made my way into the group fighting for the top ten before unfortunately having to retire again with a technical problem. Snetterton is up next, somewhere I love racing so I’m looking forward to that already.”
Source: MCNews.com.au