Tyre selection became a gamble with the ever-changing weather conditions. With the front row electing intermediates, Chris Martin transformed his pole position into race lead on the opening lap. With Richards (Triumph) and Kennaugh (Yamaha) breathing down the neck of the Gearlink Kawasaki rider, a red flag incident involving Alan O’Connor brought proceeding s to an early halt at the start of lap four.
Grid positions for the 12-lap restart were taken from the running order at the close of lap 2. Richards on the MAP Embassy Triumph stole the holeshot but was soon passed by a determined Hudson Kennaugh on the Raceways Yamaha YZF-R6. The South African quickly settled into a groove with Richards hanging on to his shirt-tail. With the track rapidly drying, tyre conservation would start to play an important factor. Ian Lowry slipped the Relentless by TAS Suzuki into third on the fifth visit to Lodge, ekeing out an unassailable gap yet unable to carry the pace of the leading duo.
Richards looked to be biding his time and took the lead into Old Hall on the final lap, only to run wide into Shell Oils. Kennaugh stole through and looked to have the win in the bag. However, taking the defensive inside line into Lodge for the final time, Richards took his chance with a daring move round the outside of Kennaugh to drive the MAP Embassy Triumph across the finish line for his debut Supersport win.
Virgin Media Yamaha rider, BJ Toal capitalised on a restart position of 9th, soon elevating his Yamaha up the pecking order to run as high as fifth. Steve Brogan grabbed the first opportunity presented to the HM Plant Honda rider to pass first Fitzpatrick and then Toal to finish a strong fifth. With constant pressure over the closing stages from Fitzpatrick and subsequently Daniel Cooper (Centurion Racing Honda), BJ Toal claimed his first points of the season, crossing the finish line 0.14s ahead of Cooper.
Glen Richards: “That was fantastic for the MAP Embassy Racing and for Triumph, to see a British bike on top of the podium is superb. I think it’s my first Supersport win, and great that I come away with the championship lead. The Pirelli tyres worked brilliantly. Even on a semi-dry track the lap times were unbelieveably good. I tried my move going into the last lap but then ran deep into Shell. To be honest, I’d settled for second when Hudson took the inside line into Lodge and I thought I could see my chance to take him on the outside, and made it stick across the line.”
Race Result:1) Richards (Triumph)
2) Kennaugh (Yamaha)
3) Lowry (Suzuki)
4) Martin (Kawasaki)
5) Brogan (Honda)
6) BJ Toal (Virgin Media Yamaha)
7) Cooper (Honda)
8) Fitzpatrick (Yamaha)
9) Hutchinson (Yamaha)
10. Neate (Kawasaki)
Championship Standings:1) Richards – 45
2) Brogan – 36
3) Kennaugh – 33
4) Martin – 29
5) Lowry – 27
6) Hutchinson – 15
7) Neate – 12
8) Fitzpatrick – 11
=9) Grant – 10
=9) Toal – 10
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