Kiyonari wins Brands race one thriller

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Ryuichi Kiyonari beat Shane Byrne for victory in a thrilling race one of Sunday's MCE British Superbike round at Brands Hatch.

Kiyonari and fellow former triple champion Byrne exchanged the lead repeatedly over the final five laps - with James Ellison and Chris Walker also in victory contention for much of the race.

Starting from sixth on the grid, Kiyonari worked his way past the GBmoto Kawasakis of Walker and Ellison by lap 13 of 19.

It then took Kiyonari three attempts to finally lever the lead off pole sitter Byrne - his first two lunges under braking at Paddock Hill being instantly followed by a Byrne re-pass at the Druids Hairpin.

Byrne instead mounted his final counter attack under braking at Hawthorns, the right hander at the bottom of the hill, on the penultimate lap. However Kiyonari, who claimed his first win for the Buildbase BMW team last time at Knockhill, re-passed Byrne on the exit and held on by 0.103s at the line.

Ellison completed the rostrum, 0.687s from victory, with Walker - as high as second in the early stages - forced to settle for a safe fourth.

Byrne, winner of six of the nine races this season, now holds an 86 point advantage over nearest rival Ellison. Josh Brookes is a further three points back after a sixth place finish for Milwaukee Yamaha, with Kiyonari fourth in the standings.

Contact between Brookes and team-mate Tommy Bridewell on lap eight allowed Din Linfoot through to fifth for Quattro Plant Kawasaki.

Bridewell later suffered apparent technical issues while Jakub Smrz (Millsport Ducati), Richard Cooper (Anvil Hire Tag Kawasaki), John Hopkins (Tyco Suzuki) and Stuart Easton (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) completed the top ten behind Brookes.

The initial start was aborted after a problem on the grid for Hopkins, prompting a further warm-up lap and successful second start.

A safety car period then followed on lap four after an accident for Barry Burrell, who lost control of his WD40 Kawasaki - possibly due to a technical issue - on the entry to Druids and slammed heavily into the protective barrier. Racing resumed on lap seven.