Easton takes race two after Shakey and Kiyo collide

PBM Kawasaki rider Stuart Easton has taken his first MCE British Superbike race win in five years, after coming off the better of a collision between championship rivals Shane Byrne and Ryuichi Kiyonari.

Race one winner Tommy Bridewell was an early leader on the Tyco BMW, but a lowside in the early stages of the race handed the lead to the Buildbase BMW of Kiyonari and a hard-charging Byrne.

The two then engaged in battle at the front, swapping the lead multiple times until a mistake by Kiyonari, carrying too much speed into Hizzy’s Chicane to drop the pair of them.

Despite a last lap push by new championship James Ellison, Easton was able to hold him off for his first win since suffering life-threatening injuries at the North West 200 in 2011. Josh Brookes rounded out the podium in third.

Michael Laverty was promoted to fourth, finally making big steps forwards on the second of the Tyco bikes, ahead of a brace of excellent results for Honda Racing’s Jason O’Halloran and Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Howie Mainwaring-Smart.

Speaking afterwards, Easton commented: “The win has been a while coming, and I was bit fortunate – there were five or six of us out there running at the same pace. I got lucky, but I will take it. I always go well here and I have won in the Supersport class here too, I really like the circuit and I have really enjoyed this weekend. We now need to build on today and keep pushing for Snetterton.”