Dramatic action at Assen in British Superbikes 2013

It was time for the Showdown, as the final stages of the 2013 British Superbike Championship got underway at Assen in the Netherlands. Would it prove to be a Shane Byrne versus Alex Lowes contest, or would one or more of the other top six runners make an impact?

Alex Lowes pictured in World Superbikes, 2011

The title was up for grabs, and with this in mind the second BSB visit to Assen saw a couple of changes in the rider line-up among the leading teams. Only one team (Samsung Honda) had got both its riders into the vital top six after the first nine rounds of the series, with regular race winners Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki, Tyco Suzuki and Milwaukee Yamaha each only having one man through. For Tyco, the management were obviously happy with the support offered to Josh Brookes by rookie team-mate PJ Jacobsen, but not so for the other two outfits.

Brookes went into the Showdown in third place, with two race victories. Alongside him would be the Samsung-backed pairing of Alex Lowes (second, with six wins) and Ryuichi Kiyonari (fifth, with just four podium results). The outsider was James Westmoreland for Buildbase BMW, who had just edged into sixth ahead of team-mate Jon Kirkham, neither man having placed better than fourth in any race. The other two contenders were points-leading Shane Byrne, for Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki (with nine wins), and fourth man James Ellison, for Milwaukee Yamaha (with two wins). For the Showdown, Byrne would now be backed up by replacement team-mate Noriyuki Haga, the multi-winning former World Superbike man, taking over from Keith Farmer. Replacing Josh Waters, alongside Ellison, was on-form Tommy Bridewell, moving to a Yamaha after racing for Bathams Honda then Halsall Kawasaki.

In qualifying, Haga experienced chatter problems with his Kawasaki and therefore missed out on being among the leaders. But there were no such issues for Bridewell, and his season-best third place put him one slot, and one row, ahead of Ellison. The 25-year-old had equalled his new team-mate’s best (three-time) grid position of the season. But there was no surprise that the pace-setters were Lowes and Byrne, with the Honda man on pole position for the sixth time this year, and with ‘Shakey’ next in line.

Meanwhile, Brookes would start from sixth position, separated from Ellison by the Padgett’s Honda rider Jakub Smrž, a podium visitor at Assen from his World Superbike days. Kiyonari headed row three in P7, from Westmoreland, Dan Linfoot (Lloyds British GBmoto Racing Honda) and Kirkham. Dutch champion Danny de Boer was eleventh for Bathams Honda, substituting for Michael Rutter, and behind him was Peter Hickman (also GBmoto Honda).

Assen
Form guide: BSB wins
Shane Byrne · 2012
Josh Brookes · 2012
Form guide: WSB wins
Noriyuki Haga · 2000, 2009
Chris Walker · 2006

Race one saw Byrne lead away, but only until Lowes passed him at the right-handed first corner, Haarbocht. Ellison was also quick to get through on Shakey, with Smrž fourth, from Brookes, Haga, Bridewell, Linfoot and Kiyonari. Ellison’s early attacking form on the opening lap took him around the outside of Lowes in a right-hander, and into the lead. Behind the top nine, Westmoreland headed Kirkham, Hickman, Jacobsen, Barry Burrell (Quattro Plant Kawasaki) and de Boer.

With Ellison in front, a fierce contest over second developed between Lowes and Byrne, with the pair swapping back and forth at the right-handed Stekkenwal and into the next left at de Bult, where Byrne got through; and meanwhile, Brookes, Haga, Bridewell and the rest were starting to lose touch. One of the key overtaking places at Assen is the Geert Timmer Bocht, otherwise known as the final right-left-right GT chicane. Going out of this complex, Haga passed Brookes round the outside, the two bikes making contact, and this also allowed Bridewell to get ahead of the Suzuki man, using the inside line along the main start-finish straight and on towards Haarbocht.

Ellison maintained a minimal advantage, but the order behind him would change once again, with Lowes passing Byrne on the inside at a left-hander. This changed once more when Shakey went past on the inside for the first right at GT, the Kawasaki man then beginning to close down Ellison’s advantage. The same part of the GT chicane was where Byrne went for the lead, but it turned out that his Yamaha-mounted rival was at that moment experiencing an engine failure, James pulling off on the outside and stopping in the gravel.

That left Byrne just in the lead from Lowes, with Bridewell inheriting a lonely third, and then Brookes ahead of Smrž, Haga, Jacobsen and the rest. Byrne made a bit of a mistake when he had a slide at Haarbocht, but he managed to hold on in front of Lowes. But on the penultimate lap, going through the two consecutive left-handers at Ramshoek, Shakey left a bit of room and Alex made a pass on the inside. The final lap saw these two trading places a few times around the back of the circuit, in the section from Ruskenhoek to Mandeveen, the right-hander where Byrne was in front again. However, Lowes was able to repeat his move at Ramshoek and he took the victory.

Bridewell was third, for a third podium result in four races, with Brookes home fourth. Fifth place was disputed right to the finish, with Jacobsen trying a late move on Haga at the chicane, but in the event he lost out to the Japanese rider and also to the pursuing Smrž, who therefore took sixth and his best BSB result to date. Kiyonari had dropped back, so that eighth went to Westmoreland, from Kirkham, Burrell, de Boer, Hickman, Matteo Baiocco (Rapido Sport Ducati); and then it was ‘Kiyo’, from Lee Costello (Halsall Kawasaki), Martin Jessopp (Riders BMW) and Robbin Harms (Doodson Honda). Chris Walker (Quattro Plant Kawasaki) had gone out with mechanical trouble.

The new grid for race two reflected the pace set earlier on, with Lowes on pole again, from Ellison, Byrne, Bridewell, Haga, Brookes, Smrž, Jacobsen, Linfoot, Kirkham, Burrell, Westmoreland, Kiyonari, de Boer and Hickman. Byrne got away first, heading Lowes, but with Haga quick to pass the Honda man and make it a one-two for the Kawasaki duo. Ellison and Bridewell followed, from Jacobsen, Linfoot, Smrž and Brookes. Lowes soon regained second with a move on the inside at a left-hander, although Byrne initially seemed to be getting away up front.

With Haga, Ellison and Bridewell in the pursuit group, Lowes closed in on leader Byrne. Brookes moved through onto the tail of team-mate Jacobsen, these two clear of those behind but not all that close to the five men ahead. The lead changed at the GT chicane, but with Byrne getting back through on the inside at the right-handed Ruskenhoek kink. For third, Ellison passed Haga, and at the next corner Bridewell also went to the inside of ‘Nori’. Tommy was halfway ahead when he lost the front of his Yamaha, and that meant Haga was also involved in the resulting crash.

This left three men up front, but not for too long. Lowes looked to repeat his earlier moves on the inside at Ramshoek, but this time he collided with Byrne from behind, and the race leader was launched into a high-speed crash. Alex managed to stay on board the Honda and recover from running wide, but not without Ellison getting past him to take the lead. It looked like there hadn’t really been enough room to make the move work, on this occasion, and the race stewards placed the incident under investigation.

Following a Safety Car period, Ellison had a half-decent lead ahead of Lowes; and Brookes, after passing Jacobsen, now found himself third. However, yet another one of the leaders would soon go down, this time when Brookes had a lowside crash in the first right at the GT chicane. With Kiyonari passing Westmoreland, the Honda man now found himself fourth, and obviously Jacobsen was up into a podium position, with his previous best result being fifth.

The final laps saw Lowes close in on Ellison, and soon enough make a successful move on the inside for the GT chicane. From there he moved clear for what looked like his sixth win in a row, and the places behind him went to Ellison, Jacobsen and Kiyonari. Kirkham had got clear of team-mate Westmoreland for fifth, whilst Hickman just lost out to the charging Walker after briefly getting by at the chicane for the final time. Then came de Boer, Linfoot, Burrell, Costello and Aaron Zanotti (STEL Suzuki) in last place. Smrž was another non-finisher.

However, after looking at the incident involving Byrne and Lowes, the stewards concluded that Alex was guilty of a dangerous move and he was excluded from the results. This gave Ellison his third win of the season, promoted Jacobsen to a best-yet second, and also put Kiyonari on the podium. Additionally, de Boer, Costello and Zanotti all recorded their season-best BSB results, which for the former pair (both rookies) meant their best-yet in BSB racing.

On a dramatic day which saw several crashes, no rider had finished amongst the leaders for both of the races - apart from Alex Lowes until his race two exclusion. Shane Byrne was not badly hurt in his crash, and he just maintained the championship advantage by one point over Lowes. James Ellison had been unlucky in race one, but with his later victory he advanced to third place ahead of Josh Brookes. And meanwhile both Tommy Bridewell and Noriyuki Haga had shown useful pace, and could both feature in the final races of the season.

Showdown standings after twenty-one races: Byrne 559; Lowes 558; Ellison 538; Brookes 535; Kiyonari 522; Westmoreland 519
Standings behind the top six: Kirkham 174; Jacobsen 144; Bridewell 142; Walker 133; Hickman 102; Farmer 93