Reynolds wins at Brands

John Reynolds amazed everyone at Brands Hatch on Sunday, taking his Rizla Suzuki GSX-R1000 to the win in the first race despite breaking his collarbone just two weeks ago.

It was Reynolds team-mate Yukio Kagayama, who is also recovering from a broken collarbone, that took pole position by setting the fastest ever lap round the kent circuit, but Reynolds pulled out a 5.5 second lead over second placed man Sean Emmett to take the win in the first of two wet races.

TT winner John McGuinness took third place on the injured Glen Richards’ Hawk Kawasaki.

The meeting ended in tragedy with a five-bike pile-up in the Superstock race. Darren Mitchell, 31,was airlifted from the track but died at Maidstone Hospital.

Jamie Morley was also airlifted to hospital, where he was treated for undisclosed injuries. Mark Heckles was taken to Queen Mary Hospital, Sidcup with a broken leg and other injuries. Dean Johnson suffered a broken leg and Belgian rider Paul Mooijman a minor head injury. Both were taken to the local Derenth Valley hospital. The race was abandoned after the crash.

It was Leon Haslam that took the win in race two with the Renegade Ducati team returning to BSB for one round after it’s move to World Superbikes this year.

Sean Emmett was once again in second place with almost exactly the same gap between him and the winner as in race one.

Yukio Kagayama took his turn on the podium in third place ahead of the Yamaha riding James Haydon.

The Hawk Kawasakis of Scott Smart and John McGuinness filled fifth and sixth, while Reynolds finished race two in seventh place to extend his championship lead over Michael Rutter from eight to 29 points.

Jamie Morley’s condition was updated on Tuesday, June 23, 2004. He has a badly broken ankle, broken pelvis, a lower spinal injury plus internal injuries.

He has undergone over 12 hours of surgery in two separate operations – mainly to stem internal bleeding.

He’s currently listed as ‘critical but stable.’ and sedated to prevent any chance of him from moving and aggravating the spinal injury.

Surgeons are planning to operate again on Friday to pin the broken pelvis – and discern the extent of the lower spinal injury.