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BSB: Title-chasing Shane Byrne suffers costly fall at Brands Hatch

Shane Byrne on his way to victory. Picture: Nick Soye
Image: Shane Byrne: Will crash be costly after Sunday's finale? Picture: Nick Soye

Howie Mainwaring made the most of the carnage at rain-hit Brands Hatch to claim his first British Superbike Championship victory.

Mainwaring held off the challenge of Josh Waters to claim a first BSB win for him and the Quattro Plant Kawasaki team on a day when the two title challengers suffered crashes.

Shane Byrne was in second place when he slid off on his Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki on the seventh lap - he did not suffer any injuries, unlike chief rival Ryuichi Kiyonari.

The Japanese rider was unable to take the start on his Buildbase BMW after a crash in morning practice left him with a broken left collarbone.

But Kiyonari hopes to be able to ride on Sunday when the final two races of the season will take place at the Kent track, where Byrne is trying to defend, or add to, his 12 point advantage in the championship.

"I was sat there in second place and I was actually happy," Byrne said. 

"But you know you come into Clearways, and we had a similar situation in August in the wet qualifying, we did nothing any different and then the next thing you're on your rear.

"I was sliding through the gravel actually thinking 'how did that just happen?!' I've done nothing different why? It is what it is, it's a British Championship and whilst I want all three races to be dry and to win them in the dry there's going to be rain too."

After Byrne crashed out of Saturday's opening race a group of four riders broke away from the field; Mainwaring, his teammate Dan Linfoot, Waters on the Tyco Suzuki and Jon Kirkham's Halsall Biker Gear Kawasaki.

Mainwaring moved into second on lap 11 and then overtook Waters a lap later, the pair eventually pulling clear in a superb dice all the way to the line.

But it was the Aylesford based rider, whose best previous finish this season was eighth at Assen, who came out on top by less than five-hundredths of a second.

Mainwaring said: "I'm pretty emotional to be honest with you; it's been a long time coming. We've done it in Superstock but I've never had too much luck in Superbike before.

"We've come back from that so everything's sort of fell in place this weekend and the team have worked really hard and I can't really thank them enough.

"Everyone sort of believed in us and we've done the job this weekend and it's come together. The bike's really felt like my own all weekend in every session we've done. It's been a fantastic race. I like riding with Josh [Waters], we've had some good battles when it's been them sort of conditions so I am really pleased."

Kirkham finished third ahead of Linfoot, with the latter improving his hopes of finishing the season in third place - he has 559 points in fifth but is only two behind Tommy Bridewell and one off Josh Brookes with Sunday's two races left.

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