Three-time British Superbike Champion Ryuichi Kiyonari made history on Sunday at Knockhill, scoring BMW’s first-ever win in the British Superbike Series. The victory also marked the first win of the season for the Buildbase BMW team and ended the Japanese rider’s win drought in the series – his last win coming in 2011 before departing the series for a year (2012) to race the FIM Asia Road Racing Championship. Rounding out the podium was Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki’s Shane Byrne and his teammate Stuart Easton.
A back-on-form Kiyonari made a good effort to pull off the double, but Byrne, the other three-time British Superbike champ, wasn’t going to have it and race two saw a fierce battle between the pair. Byrne led early with Kiyonari right behind him. Then the roles were reversed with Byrne stalking Kiyonari, allowing Byrne to capitalize on a Kiyonari mistake to take the lead. Kiyonari didn’t give up the fight, but in the end he fell short by .176 of a second.
Lloyds British GBmoto Racing Kawasaki’s Chris Walker held off Milwaukee Yamaha’s Josh Brookes to take third in spite of a broken finger. American John Hopkins finished ninth and 11th in race one and two, respectively.
Byrne still leads the championship by a healthy margin of 79 points over Brookes, 190- 111. Lloyds British GBmoto Racing Kawasaki’s James Ellison is third with 108 points.
2014 Knockhill British Superbike
Race One Results
1. Ryuichi Kiyonari (BMW)
2. Shane Byrne (Kawasaki)
3. Stuart Easton (Kawasaki)
4. Josh Brookes (Yamaha)
5. Chris Walker (Kawasaki)
6. Tommy Bridewell (Yamaha)
7. Dan Linfoot (Kawasaki)
8. Barry Burrell (Kawasaki)
9. John Hopkins (Suzuki)
10. James Westmoreland (BMW)
Race Two Results
1. Shane Byrne (Kawasaki)
2. Ryuichi Kiyonari (BMW)
3. Chris Walker (Kawasaki)
4. Josh Brookes (Yamaha)
5. Stuart Easton (Kawasaki)
6. Dan Linfoot (Kawasaki)
7. Tommy Bridewell (Yamaha)
8. James Ellison (Kawasaki)
9. Richard Cooper (Kawasaki)
10. Michael Rutter (BMW)
11. John Hopkins (Suzuki)
