BSB: Knockhill - Kiyo's Back!

What a fantastic couple of races that was!

After anxiously awaiting the return of the British Superbike Championship (honestly, I cannot tell you how many times I checked the website to see when the guys were due to arrive at Knockhill, lol!), I was left wondering how many more twists and turns there may be as things progress ever onwards towards the Showdown.

It turned out that these races were what the word 'eventful' was made for, because there were people dropping bikes galore in this race (much reminiscent as it was of the MotoGP trip to the Catalunya circuit last weekend!). It also saw the return of Dan Linfoot, who you'll remember crashed out in quite spectacular style earlier this season.

Whilst it was a day to forget for some, for others it would definitely be a day to remember...


Race One

Qualifying for this one on the front row was looking like it was going to be Josh Brookes, until Shane 'Shakey' Byrne took it, defeating his time by 0.01 seconds and Alex Lowes made up the final position. The highlight of Q3 though has to be Jon Kirkham who almost made it onto the front row of the grid, eventually sacrificing a third of a second to Lowes.

Onto the race...

The action started off going into the first corner as Brookes managed to get the better of Byrne giving him the incentive to go for the win. However, it would not be as simple as that as, though the next highlight ITV4 showed was at lap 16 when Lowes, the current championship leader going into this round, was unfortunate to crash his bike after looking as though his impressive form was going to continue well into the season.

Next to come was at lap 25 (this time I know there was more coverage of the between laps, but there were no crashes so nothing like that to speak of thankfully!) when Shakey tried to get the cutback on Brookes at the hairpin.

He made the move but then seemed to think better of it as Brookes got just as impressive drive from the corner resulting in him almost being collected by Byrne at said point.

This caused quite a commotion from the commentary team because it showed that Shakey was not letting go of first position without a fight (even though the highlights seemed to dictate that Brookes it was who took command of this race). Sure enough a lap later, the job's done and Shakey brings his Rapid Solicitors bike home in 1st place to end where he started, giving him a total now of 46 race wins overall in BSB.

How unfortunate it was for Jon Kirkham who, having started on the front row of the grid, lost his bike before this closing stage drama kicked off having been on the verge of bringing his bike home in 4th position. He had been overtaken by a dominant and impressive looking Ryiuchi Kiyonari moments beforehand. Kiyo it was who seemed in great form for this first race and I firmly believe that had he been closer to the front two of Brookes & Byrne, then the firecrackers would have been much louder to anticipate!

Dan Linfoot is the star for me in this race, bringing home his Lloyds British GBMoto Honda home in 8th position in his first race back since that horrific looking crash earlier this season!

Race Two

In Race Two, the drama started before the lights even went out as Tommy Bridewell's Batham's Honda malfunctioned resulting in a pit lane start being demanded of him. Clearly at this point there were some serious issues with the bike itself and the moment you could hear the race engineers saying 'it's over, game over' you knew that Bridewell was unlucky enough not to start this one at all, let alone get on the grid.

From the off things were just as chaotic as Kiyo makes an impressive start, only for Shakey to make an even better one, despite starting from the second row of the grid (purely on a fastest lap parameter as per standard BSB rules).

James Ellison it was who clipped Chris Walker going into the dropping chicane, whilst elsewhere on the grid Michael Rutter almost collided with Peter Hickman at exactly the same point. At this time, Rutter was forced to drop the bike before he ran back across the track right where the other riders would be at the end of the chicane.

This time, the drama subsided somewhat (only in terms of people dropping bikes, mind!) until lap 27 when Jakob 'Kuba' Smrz collided with the Doodson Motorsport Honda of Robbin Harms taking him out of the race altogether.

On the final lap, Josh Brookes takes an unusual line allowing his bike to quite literally leave the ground when navigating one of the chicances thus setting the fastest lap not just of the race, but of the day. This certainly made those moments a nervous tremble as his bike wobbled immensely as it came out of that manoeuvre looking decidedly unsure of itself.

Shakey by and large kept himself out of trouble in this one, the scare only coming behind him and out of both his awareness and also the pitboard as after the race he revealed to ITV4 that he was unaware of the blistering pace that Brookes was setting on his way to that fastest lap.

Brookes himself it was who described that moment as 'a new line I've discovered' and it certainly gave me a scare as I'm tipping both him and Lowes to be pushing Shakey all the way this season!

So, with that out of the way it's time to reveal who I've tipped as the rider of the day: -

Ryuichi Kiyonari

Ordinarily I would have gone for the double race winner here, especially as he looked in sublime form, despite being pushed all the way by Brookes who made a stunning debut at this year's Isle of Man TT.

But how could I ignore the stunning return of one Kiyo?!

Kiyo it was who by all rights and maybe even intents and purposes, been on the front row of the grid before Race One (though not taking anything at all away from Kirkham as he made a stunning lap time to get where he qualified in Kiyo's place!), but to me, he just looked a cut above the rest. He showed that lingering in the lower end of the Showdown (on the borderline of being out of true contention for the Showdown until this meeting!) by no means is proof that he should be discounted for future race wins this year!

So Shakey it is now who once again leads the championship leading the way on 166 points from Brookes who's 30 points behind, with Lowes a further six back from that, whilst Kiyo's double third places have moved him into 7th and only one place behind the final Showdown contender; Chris Walker.

Next time out, the boys head off to Snetterton and at the moment, they are selling tickets for the next event until the 3rd July at just £26... BARGAIN!!!

Were the circuit closer to my humble abode, I would certainly look at going, but next year I'll be looking at getting to some racing action myself to add a more personal touch to these reviews!

More on that in due course, bro's!

Peace out!


The Lanky Penguin