BYRNE’S BRANDS HATCH TURF WAR BECKONS AS MCE BRITISH SUPERBIKES RETURN TO KENT THIS WEEKEND A turf war is set to erupt at Brands Hatch this weekend (19/20/21 July) at the sixth round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship as Shane ‘Shakey’ targets glory at his home round. Young gun Alex Lowes is aiming to end his run of seven straight wins on the Grand Prix configuration as tens of thousands of fans are set to flock to Kent for another scorching weekend both on and off the track. Byrne heads the standings coming in to his home round but Lowes beat the Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki rider last time out at Snetterton, something the Kent ace doesn’t intend on happening again this weekend. A double win would take him to an incredible 50 MCE BSB race wins and cement his status at the most successful rider in the championship’s history. Byrne said: “We have a record of wins at Brands Hatch but I don’t intend on resting on my laurels as the last round at Snetterton showed that we need to keep improving if we want to stay ahead. Alex, Josh, James – they all want to be scoring more points than me and then there is Kiyo too! Brands Hatch is my home round and I certainly don’t go to an event to finish second, so we will work hard and hopefully that puts us where we need to be.” Lowes lies second in the standings and arrives in Kent with his confidence high after his best round of the season at Snetterton, where he scored a win and a second place. The Samsung Honda rider knows that a win on the Grand Prix circuit could be pivotal to his aspirations of a maiden title as he looks to close the gap to Byrne; the 2.4-mile track also hosts the season finale in October so a strong round and finding ideal settings this weekend may prove crucial for the title decider. Lowes said: “I am ready for Brands Hatch; Shakey is the favourite because it is his home round and he has a record of consecutive wins, but we obviously are going there to try and win. We proved at Snetterton we can beat him fair and square and I certainly want to be back at the top. Everyone will be improving at Brands Hatch but the pressure is more on him as it is his home round and he obviously wants to keep up his form. To beat him there would be a great result.” Milwaukee Yamaha’s James Ellison and Samsung Honda’s triple champion Ryuichi Kiyonari will both be in the hunt to add to their podium tally whilst Josh Brookes has yet to win this season and the Tyco Suzuki rider is determined to uphold Australian sporting honour in a difficult summer for the Aussies so far! The chasing pack know that with the end-of-season Showdown on the horizon a big points haul at Brands Hatch is vital; five different manufacturers and five different teams currently feature inside the top six but a successful weekend at Brands Hatch could see riders including James Westmoreland, Chris Walker and PJ Jacobsen move into the all-important top six places. Adult tickets are available to purchase on the gate for all three days and the event is great value for all the family as children 12 and under are admitted free. For more information visit www.britishsuperbike.com More, from a press release issued by Team WD-40: CHAMPIONSHIP PURSUIT CONTINUES FOR TEAM WD-40 Team WD-40 continue their pursuit of championship glory this weekend as the British Superbike series makes its second appearance of the season at Brands Hatch. The team head to the Kent circuit in high spirits with all three riders – Joe Francis, Jon Railton and Tommy Aquino – producing some of their best performances of the season so far in recent meetings. It’s another crucial weekend for Joe, from Backford near Chester, as he aims to stretch his lead in the Moto 3 class of the Monster Energy Motostar British championship. Two victories from the last three meetings – at Oulton Park and Snetterton – have ensured the talented 15-year-old has turned a 10 point deficit in the championship in to a 20 point advantage. “The last few meetings have gone really well for us so we can’t wait to get to Brands Hatch and try and continue the good form,” said Joe. It’s a decent lead we have at the moment and it would be great if we could stretch that further over the weekend. It’s going to be a busy second half of the season but we are going to tracks where we feel we can have some success so hopefully we can continue to challenge for the top positions.” Team WD-40’s Pirelli National Superstock 1000 duo Jon Railton and Tommy Aquino head to Brands Hatch buoyed by an excellent testing session at the track over the last week. Jon, of Grafham in Huntingdonshire, is targeting a third successive points finish and a surge up the field after finishing in 11th and 15th in his last two outings. “Things have been going steadily but I’m confident there is plenty of improvement still to come,” said Jon. Testing at Brands Hatch went really well and that’s given me a lot of confidence for the weekend to come.” Tommy Aquino – who also impressed during testing at Brands Hatch GP and Cadwell Park in the last week – has a target on his mind after back-to-back eighth place finishes. The California-born rider, who currently lies 13th in the championship but is only 10 points behind eighth place. “I want to push into that top five and I think we can achieve that because our pace is good,” said Tommy “It’s my first season in England I’m learning all the time so hopefully we can have a very strong second half to the season. Testing at Brands Hatch means this will be the first time I’ve been to a circuit which I’ve visited before this season so hopefully that can be a real benefit.” Team WD-40’s manager, Brent Gladwin, said: “ Testing over the last week with Jon and Tommy went really well, Jon was brilliant at Brands with Tommy not far behind and Tommy was stunning at Cadwell Park. We are getting stronger all the time and the atmosphere in the team at the moment is brilliant. There is no reason we can’t go to Brands Hatch, have three good results and make a real impression once again.” WD-40 is the new title sponsor of GR Motosport. The WD40 company has just launched seven new products specifically for use on motorbikes, under its recently launched WD-40 Specialist Motorbike brand. www.wd40specialistmotorbike.co.uk/ www.teamwd40.com Team Partners: Stauff UK, Cargolink Express, L&A Reinforcements, Carrino access flooring, The Air Con Experts, F&G Commercials, Bennetts Motorcycle Insurance, Kent Holiday Cottages, RS Components, 3 Squared, Signsxtra Technical Partners: Kawasaki, Scorpion Red Power, Dynojet UK, Swinton Motorcycles, R&G racing, PPG Paint, Goodridge, Pipercross, Solo Motorcycle products, Super B, MG Competition, STIHL More, from a press release issued by Milwaukee Yamaha: BRANDS HATCH BECKONS AS MILWAUKEE YAMAHA GEAR UP FOR ROUND SIX The Milwaukee Yamaha team return to the legendary Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit this weekend (19/20/21 July) for the sixth round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship as James Ellison aims to repeat his win from the opening round at the Kent circuit and Josh Waters prepares to build on his Snetterton performances. Ellison was victorious on the Indy circuit at the season opener and after cruelly missing out on the podium at Snetterton last time out the Kendal rider is now determined to underline his credentials as a podium contender on the 2.43-mile Grand Prix configuration. Ellison currently lies fourth in the overall standings, but knows that a haul of podium credits this weekend will boost his title hopes. Waters will make his debut on the Grand Prix circuit after scoring his best result in the Championship at Snetterton at the previous round with a seventh place. The Australian double champion was spurred on by a pair of top ten finishes in Norfolk and arrives in Kent targeting further improvement as he aims to close the deficit in the standings to the top six. Ellison said: “I love the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit and we know that it should be a good track for the Milwaukee Yamaha. We have shown that we have the podium pace at all of the circuits apart from Knockhill and it has just been bad luck that has stopped us being on the podium more frequently. I feel good on the bike and to be honest I am not too worried about what has happened so far because of the way the Showdown works; the rules play into our hands at the moment. What has happened so far has just made me hungrier for results at Brands Hatch because we know we have the pace to fight at the front. This weekend we need to score two good results and find settings that will put us in a strong position for when we come back at the end of the season for the Showdown as hopefully we will be in the top six fighting for the title.” Waters said: “I feel like at Snetterton we made steps forward and I felt happier and more confident; we could see that in the results as we had our best races of the season. I hope that we can now go to Brands Hatch this weekend and do the same there; I want to be up closer to the front pack like we were at the last round so hopefully we can translate what we learnt there to the GP circuit. I am really looking forward to this one as I have watched that final race of 2011 with Tommy and Hopper loads of times and I can’t wait to do some laps there now. I want to improve and have another two good races this weekend so we can try and close the gap to the top six.” For more information visit www.milwaukeeyamaha.com More, from a press release issued by Honda: LOWES READY FOR TITLE FIGHT AS KIYONARI CONTINUES FIGHTBACK Alex Lowes is all set to take on the reigning MCE Insurance British Superbike Champion Shane Byrne on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit as the title chase reaches the half way point with this the sixth round. Lowes’ Samsung Honda team-mate Ryuichi Kiyonari, like Byrne, is aiming for a record fourth title success. Kiyonari is playing catch-up on the leaders, currently placed fifth in the standings, but his recent results illustrate that the Japanese rider is returning to form at the crucial time. Brands Hatch is a circuit where he was won both World and British Superbike races. The immediate target for Kiyonari is to rack up high points scores on a consistent basis to ensure that he retains a place among the elite six riders who will go forward to the “showdown for the title” sequence of seven races. That selection will be confirmed after the ninth round at Cadwell Park and currently Kiyonari is amid a cluster of four riders separated by only eight points, with others close at hand making every score vital. Kiyonari, twice third at Knockhill and then fifth and fourth at Snetterton, is ready for the challenges and is further buoyed by a highly productive test back home in Japan ahead of the forthcoming Suzuka Eight Hours race. That has added to his confidence that he can be at the sharp-end of the pack at the Kent circuit this weekend. Lowes meanwhile is comfortably placed, second overall, a couple of points ahead of Suzuki’s Josh Brookes, who like Kiyonari returns from the Suzuka test. He is ready to take on the local Kawasaki riding favourite Byrne who has a strong winning pedigree at this circuit, having clinched his third title there with a hat-trick in last year’s final round. Lowes has double reason to go for glory – he wants to reel in the 32 points deficit he has on Byrne, though in terms of “podium credits” which click into play in the “showdown” that is reduced to seven points, but also to erase the memories of the costly crashes he experienced in that final round last year. Since then, Lowes has matured with a strong race-craft that has earned praise for Samsung Honda race-boss Havier Beltran and which is underlined by his record of eight podium finishes, including two wins in the ten races so far. Jenny Tinmouth, the first lady to score a point in BSB – she was fifteenth last time out at Snetterton – will be hoping for more of the same on her Two Wheels Racing Fireblade. The Lloyds British GBmoto Honda duo of Dan Linfoot and Peter Hickman need to get among the points to keep alive their hopes of making the “showdown.” That is also the case for the Bathams Honda’s Michael Rutter and Tommy Bridewell along with Jakub Smrz aboard the Padgetts HondaHonHH while Robbin Harms will need a fitness test to decide if he can ride the Doodson Honda after sustaining an injury in a heavy crash at Snetterton. The title decider is based on the top six riders after Round 9, Cadwell Park, with scores being effectively levelled out on 500 points, to which are added the “podium credits” points scored prior to that point. Then, the riders score points on the normal basis, a system that virtually ensures the outcome of the title is decided in the final race of the season. Honda rider quotes Sam Lowes (Samsung Honda) “I’m looking forward to Brands Hatch, a circuit that I like a lot despite my crashes there last October – let’s hope that they are out of the way now. I am hoping to be back with a bit more speed and to be on the podium, that is the main thing now, staying consistent, pushing hard and scoring points. The man to beat is Byrne – he is the favourite as it is his home round and he has a winning record there. To beat him here would be a great result but we proved at Snetterton that we can beat him.” Ryuichi Kiyonari (Samsung Honda) “We had some improvements again at Snetterton. I am happier and ready for the next round at the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit which is good for me. I had my first WSBK win there. I am back from a very good test at Suzuka and I want to maintain our recent progress.”