VOL. 51 ISSUE 31 AUGUST 5, 2014 P31
kept pushing as hard as I could
where I was strong," Brookes
said after winning race one by
four seconds. "I maintained good
lap times and the gap just grew
and grew. It was exciting for me
to win that race and get some
points back on Shakey."
Byrne held off the determined
challenges from Buildbase BMW
rider Kiyonari to take second with
Linfoot finishing fourth.
In race two, Byrne was eager
to make amends, forging into an
early lead, but the race was red-
flagged because of an oil spill.
On the restart, Byrne made an-
other flying start ahead of Linfoot,
but Brookes was determined and
moved from fourth to second in
one fell swoop at the Club Chi-
cane and then a lap later passed
Byrne at Seagrave. This time
Brookes was unable to pull away,
but he still won the race – by just
.204 of a second from Byrne.
"The second race was so much
harder with Shakey and Dan [Lin-
foot] in front of me battling and
I didn't want to get caught up in
anything," Brookes said. "I threw
caution to the wind, passing them
and then got a small gap, but that
came down to almost nothing. I
think this double win proves we
are ready to get this fight back on
track for the championship."
Californian John Hopkins end-
ed up with two eighth-place fin-
ishes at Thruxton.
"I did everything possible and
rode as hard as I could to get
away with the lead group in both
races, but unfortunately we didn't
have the speed down the multiple
straights to pass the guys ahead,"
Hopkins said. "In the draft we no
doubt had the pace to run at the
front and we've made steps to
close the gap, but still weren't
able to achieve the results we all
are looking for as a team."
James Rispoli, meanwhile, fin-
ished ninth and eighth in the two
Supersport races at Thruxton,
the Team Traction Control rider
in his second outing on the Ya-
maha R6 after the team switched
brands at the last race.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
GOLD
&
GOOSE
Josh Brookes won
both races in the
British Superbike
Championship round
at Thruxton on Sunday.
DENMARK WINS, USA SIXTH
D
enmark's Niels-Kristian Ivers-
en pulled off a last-turn thrill-
er in the final race of the night to
beat Poland's Janusz Kolodzicj
and lead the Danes to the Speed-
way World Cup Final victory over
the home team in Bydogoszcz,
Poland. Denmark won by the
narrowest of margins scoring 38
points, beating Poland's 37 and
Australia's 36. Great Britain fin-
ished with 16 points.
Two days earlier at the same
track, Team USA finished a very
credible sixth place in the Speed-
way World Cup after earning a
third-place finish in the Race Off.
Australia took the win with 43
points and advanced to the final.
Sweden finished second with 32
points, USA scored 24 and the
Czech Republic totaled 24.
Team USA was led by a stun-
ning 21-point maximum from cap-
continued on page 32
