BSB:Snetterton - Lowes & Shakey Do It Again

Whassup peeps!

Well, as I'm closing in one my 1,000th viewer of this blog, it brings me great pleasure to give you yet more insight into the latest round of the British Superbike Championship that took place over the weekend of the 5th to the 7th of July at Snetterton in Norfolk...


Qualifying

The qualifying for this race weekend took place under scorching conditions as the United Kingdom baked in yet another heatwave (I know, had I not been out in it myself in up here in Oldham, I would have found it hard to believe!) that promised further action.

All eyes would be on the championship leader, Shane Byrne, to see if he could max out his stats and obtain yet another pole position as he looks set to challenge for yet another title the closer we get towards the "Showdown" at the end of the season. However, the likes of Josh Brookes (a guy who dropped his bike when pushing for grip in the morning warm-up session, yet still qualified extremely well!) and Alex Lowes, the usual pretenders to Shakey's throne, were likely to have something substantial to say as they continue to push him all the way in the championship so far this season.

It was the latter of the two that ultimately had the last laugh, locking down pole position with a blistering time of "1:48.106", that would turn out to be .307 of a second faster than Shakey, whilst Brookes managed to clock in a further half a second back. After that it was Kiyo, continuing on from his impressive form at Knockhill as he qualified in fourth fastest, making up the final position on the front row.

Comment at this point has to be made of the return to form as well of James Ellison who qualified in fifth position.


Race One

It was Josh Brookes who was electric off the line who managed to make the most of Shakey's lack of front grip (an element which he made note of in the post race interview as the cause of his ills in Race One) and Alex Lowes, despite qualifying third could not best either of them.

The first race had barely got underway when it saw its first casualty, Tommy Bridewell it was crashing out on lap two.

Lap five saw Lowes making up for his earlier misfortunes as upon approaching the Montreal hairpin, he got the benefit of the cutback on Byrne, before immediately going into Agostini and getting the better of race leader Josh Brookes. So it looked like his woes were over, for now at least...

With the race over half finished, the next incident of note was a black and orange flag for an unfortunate Chris Walker (the bro' who said pre-race that it was more of a case of considering what he would do when he retires, not decide when to retire at the moment!) for his smoking Quattro Plant Kawasaki, a move which ultimately ended his race.

Right before the end, the final lap, saw PJ Jacobsen become mighty lucky as he lost control of his bike going into Murray's and it was a true heart-in-the-mouth moment as his bike cartwheeled across the grass and then back over the tarmac whilst the other riders were going past. He was especially lucky that as well as the bike not collecting anyone, neither did he and he slid fortunately across a gap narrowly avoiding contact!

Up at the sharp end of the grid it was the three usual contenders of Lowes, Brookes and Byrne who locked out the podium and a very distressed looking Byrne confirmed, as mentioned, that he was having real issues getting to grips (sic!) with how the front tyre was behaving for Race One.


Race Two

Onto Race Two then and going into the first corner, Lowes was bogged down with a poor start allowing two James' to get the better of him, Messrs Ellison and Westmoreland.

Just as in Race One, it was barely a lap old when the action started as John Kirkham collected Robbin Harms in quite spectacular style leaving behind a burning Doodson Motorsport Honda. Despite all of this the team were upbeat as he'd finished Race One a best ever 7th position for the team. The collision, however, proved that things hadn't ended well as it was confirmed that Harms would need hospital treatment so at this point let me say "get well soon bro'!" and we'll see you back out on track asap!

This of course meant that the safety car was called out and remained out for a further three laps, coming in just as lap five was about to begin allowing Shakey to get the hammer down and take off like a scalded cat!

A couple of laps later, now lap 7, Danny Buchan was the next to go out, a mistake forcing him to run straight on at one of the left-handers resulting in a dropped bike meaning instant elimination, not like other motorbike racing events where getting back on the bike is permitted (SBK being the obvious one).

Lap 11 saw Jakub Smrz unfortunately go out of the race despite, like Harms, scoring his and his team's (the Padgetts Honda this time) best ever position of 8th in Race One. On Lap 14 of 16 saw Josh Brookes have to stab the brakes to avoid contact when challenging Shakey for the lead, forcing him to go off the track lest he collect the Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki rider.

At this point it was a case of turning the crank for Shakey as despite Lowes' attempts to push him all the way to the finish, the man was just too strong and managed to hold on for a Byrne, Lowes, Brookes podium yet again!!!

A special shout out at this point to Jenny Tinmouth who, in securing 15th position, became the first female to score points at a British Superbike race meeting! Away the lass!!! :D

The Wrap Up

This is exactly how it was in the championship with Byrne leading the way 32 points ahead of Lowes who is a further three points ahead of Brookes meaning that, still, these are the likely contenders for Shakey's title come Showdown time!

But who's my rider of the day?

Alex Lowes/Shakey

They were both exceptional in their own right, so instead of awarding them each one credit for my 'Rider of the Day' award, I'm going to share it between them, such was their class on the day at Snetterton!

I'd even have thrown in the mix Josh Brookes too, but having a third of a point to consider when leading the end of season calculations, it would be too much, lol!

Next time out the boys (and girl!) head off to Brands Hatch to ride the GP circuit!

Who'll win next time is anyone's guess if this meeting was anything to go by!

Peace out!


The Lanky Penguin

PS. I'm trying some new formatting tricks here to lighten up these reviews, so please bear with me whilst I figure out what works and what doesn't... or feel free to just comment, lol! ;)