Record breaking Shane Byrne at Thruxton in BSB 2013

British Superbike’s second event of 2013 was taking place at the ultra-fast Thruxton circuit, where there is frequently a lot of to-and-fro overtaking, with race victory quite often being decided very late in the day. Shane Byrne was leading after the Brands Hatch round, and he was chasing the BSB win tally of Ryuichi Kiyonari.

Japanese star ‘Kiyo’ first raced in the series back in 2004, ending that season with his first pair of race wins, and he was a regular at the top of the results sheet during the next three years. A full-time return in 2010 took his victory tally to 41, plus a third championship title, and two more wins followed in 2011. Success for Byrne first came in 2002, with his BSB career after that including a couple of dominant seasons, and he won eight times in 2012 to take his total to 41. After one more at Brands, ‘Shakey’ was right behind Kiyonari’s record total.

Of course, for former rider John Reynolds, the total of Superbike race wins in British championship events was more than fifty, but in the ‘BSB era’ - which began in 1996 - John’s tally was ‘only’ 37.

Qualifying at Thruxton was plagued by difficult weather conditions, and in fact the extreme wet meant that the session had to be cancelled. Therefore, grid positions had to be based on the best times from the preceding practice sessions, and this made for one or two surprises. Pole went to Alex Lowes on the Samsung Honda, with team-mate Kiyonari back in P16. Byrne was also on the front row, in third with the Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki, splitting the two Tyco Suzuki men. Leading the way on the GSX-R was track débutant PJ Jacobsen, second; and Josh Brookes was fourth.

Two more Honda riders headed row two, with Jakub Smrž fifth for the Padgett’s team and Michael Rutter sixth on his Bathams machine. The 40-year-old was riding with a recently pinned broken leg. The first Yamaha was in seventh, with another series new boy going well - Josh Waters riding for the Milwaukee-backed team. Race winner James Ellison on the other R1 was back in P17. Eighth went to Chris Walker (Quattro Plant Kawasaki) from the Buildbase BMW pair Jon Kirkham and James Westmoreland.

Two more Kawasaki men followed on, with eleventh place going to Karl Harris (PR Racing), ahead of Byrne’s team-mate Keith Farmer. Then it was Peter Hickman (Lloyds British GBmoto Racing Honda), Martin Jessopp (Riders Motorcycles BMW), Danny Buchan (Quattro Plant Kawasaki), ahead of Kiyonari and Ellison. Tommy Bridewell on the Bathams Honda was even further back.

Thruxton
Form guide: BSB wins
Shane Byrne · 2002, 2003, 2003, 2008, 2011
Michael Rutter · 2002, 2004
Ryuichi Kiyonari · 2005, 2005
Josh Brookes · 2010, 2012

The track was dry for race day, and the first of the two outings saw Byrne get away in front, from Lowes, Brookes and Jacobsen. However, the United States rider ran very wide at the Campbell right-hander, letting the next few riders get past - Walker, Farmer, Rutter, Kirkham and Harris. Behind came Smrž, Hickman, Luke Quigley (MH Kawasaki), Bridewell and Buchan, with Waters crashing on lap one when he lost the rear end of his bike. Bridewell made up one more place but pulled out of the race soon after.

Lowes had been quick to jump ahead of Byrne, but the champion repaid the favour soon after. These two began to pull away, leaving a scrap for third between Brookes, Walker and Farmer. The final Club Chicane, a right-left-right complex with a fast approach and heavy braking, saw Farmer move up one with a pass on the outside of Walker, and soon Brookes was behind both these men. At that stage rain drops began to fall, affecting the order again as the ‘Stalker’ re-passed Farmer, only to lose out to both the Ulsterman and the Suzuki of Brookes in one go.

With the track now somewhat damp, Farmer’s race ended when he crashed. The Kawasaki ran onto the white line on the outside of the track as he went too far left at the curving start-finish section. The safety car was required at this stage, but by the time of the restart the rain had stopped. They resumed at full speed with Byrne still leading Lowes, Brookes and Walker, but with Chris forced to pull off soon after when his bike dropped a valve. Rutter was fifth initially, but fell back a few places behind Kirkham, Westmoreland, Ellison and Harris.

Byrne tried to get away in the lead, but Brookes passed Lowes at the fast Woodham Hill section, just before Club. The Australian was then in place to challenge for victory in the final stages, diving inside Shakey at the right-handed Segrave bend on the last lap, which follows on from the left at Cobb. Lowes ran a bit wide in one of the fast bends, so that just the first two would fight it out to the flag; and so Byrne went for the inside of Brookes for Club. It was tight but the 36-year-old got through and therefore equalled Kiyonari as a BSB race winner, coming home first from Brookes and Lowes.

‘Best of the rest’ had been fought out by the Buildbase BMW pair, with Westmoreland recovering to fourth position after running wide and losing out to both Kirkham and Ellison. The Yamaha rider had made progress through into P4, but late problems with arm pump and a misted visor contributed to his finishing behind Kirkham in sixth. After these three were Harris, Rutter, Jacobsen, Smrž, Hickman, Buchan, Howie Mainwaring (MH Kawasaki), Jessopp, Robbin Harms (Doodson Honda), then the non-scoring Quigley and Kiyonari.

Fastest lap times led to a race two grid with Byrne on pole from team-mate Farmer, then Lowes, Ellison, Walker, Brookes, Kirkham, Westmoreland, Harris, Rutter, Bridewell, Smrž, Jacobsen, Hickman, Waters and Buchan. Conditions were dry at this stage, and it was Farmer who briefly held the lead away from the line until Byrne made his move. Lowes and Ellison were battling over third, followed by Brookes, Rutter, Walker, Kirkham and Bridewell. As Byrne started to pull out his advantage at the front, Farmer was soon pushed back to fourth on the second Kawasaki.

Byrne led Lowes and Ellison, and with Brookes overtaking Farmer to move into fourth place. However, further progress was put on hold with another safety car period, due to Kiyonari suffering a fall in the start-finish area. At the restart, the first four got away well in unchanged order, but Farmer soon had a big out-of-control ‘moment’, and was overtaken by Rutter. Walker, Kirkham and Hickman followed.

The contest for second and third places now saw Brookes make his move against Ellison at Club, only for the Yamaha man to get the place back at the start-finish line. James set a new fastest lap at this stage, going past Lowes on the inside across the line to start another lap. These two then fought it out at the Campbell-Cobb-Segrave complex, with Alex getting back in front on the way out. Behind the first four, Rutter now led Farmer, Walker, Kirkham, Bridewell, Westmoreland, Hickman, Jacobsen, Harris, Smrž and Mainwaring.

There was further interruption to come with an accident befalling 26-year-old Halsall Racing Kawasaki rider Lee Costello. This led to another safety car period, and full-on racing resumed with Byrne still leading Lowes, Ellison and Brookes, the last of whom tried once more to move forward at Club, but without success. However, one more accident - which saw Bridewell sustain a leg injury, and with Harris also going down - led to a red flag and the early conclusion of the race.

Therefore, Byrne duly secured his record-breaking 44th BSB race win, at the same time recording his 99th visit to the podium. Lowes was second once more, from Ellison, Brookes, Rutter, Farmer, Walker, Kirkham, Westmoreland, Hickman, Jacobsen, Smrž, Mainwaring, Jessopp, Harms, Waters, Aaron Zanotti (Zanotti Racing Suzuki) and Jenny Tinmouth (Two Wheel Racing Honda).

Two of the pre-season contenders for the 2013 British Superbike crown were the pair of three-time champions also at the top of the list for all-time race winners. After the first four races of the season, Shane Byrne had won three and gone to the top of that list, whilst Ryuichi Kiyonari had failed to score at Thruxton after managing no better than fourth at Brands Hatch. At this stage, Byrne looks like the man to beat, with the consistent Alex Lowes and Josh Brookes challenging, plus James Ellison with the pace to do the same if he can start from a representative front-running grid spot. Kiyonari, meanwhile, already has quite a lot to do. What will he achieve next time out?

Standings after four races: Byrne 91; Lowes 76; Brookes 60; Ellison 51; Kirkham 42; Westmoreland 27; Walker and Farmer 26; Jacobsen 23; Kiyonari 21.
podium credits: Byrne 10, Lowes 7, Ellison 4, Brookes 3.