Kiyonari Doubles in BSB

Henny Ray Abrams | June 27, 2010

KIRKBY MALLORY, ENGLAND, JUNE 27: HM Plant Honda’s Ryuichi Kiyonari won both legs of the MCE British Superbikes Championship on the short and tight Mallory Park circuit to sweep his first double win in four years under brilliant British sunshine.”I am so happy with two wins today as it has moved me up in the championship and that is what is important,” the two-time former BSB champion said. “I knew that Josh (Brookes) was chasing me but I kept pushing and it paid off.”The first attempt to start the opening Superbike race was red-flagged on the third lap by a two-rider accident. The debris was quickly removed and the race re-started with Kiyonari having to play catch up. Australian Josh Brookes, Kiyonari’s teammate, was in the lead from the eighth lap when the Japanese rider made the pass on lap 11 of 30. Kiyonari stayed in front of Brookes to the end, winning by 1.82 secs.The one-two finish for the HM Plant team was their first since 2008. Michael Laverty rode the Relentless Suzuki by TAS GSX-R1000 to third place, just in front of RidersMotorcycles.com’s Ducati’s Michael Rutter.The second race ran start to finish without interruption and without a change in the order of the top two. Again it was Kiyonari on top and again Brookes was second. This time the difference was 3.501 seconds.Third and fourth were the same, Laverty in front of Rutter.The double was Kiyonari’s first of the season and first since Silverstone in 2006. It was also his third victory in the last four races.Despite that, Kiyonari still sits fourth in the championship. After five of 12 races, the series is led by Worx Crescent Suzuki’s Tommy Hill with 154 points. Hill retired in the first race and finished eighth in race two. Brookes is four points behind at 150, Laverty in third with 133 points, five more than Kiyonari.

Henny Ray Abrams | Contributing Editor

Abrams is the longest-serving contributor at Cycle News. Over the course of his 35-some years of writing and shooting photos, he’s covered events from MotoGP to the Motocross World Championship - and everything in between.