IN
THE
WIND
P42
IRWIN, BROOKES, LINFOOT
TAKE SILVERSTONE BSB WINS
T
he British Superbike Cham-
pionship descended on
Silverstone, September 9-10, in
a round that would decide the
Top Six Showdown.
Josh Brookes, Leon Haslam,
Shane Byrne, Jason O'Halloran,
Jake Dixon and Peter Hickman
all booked their spot in the race
to be 2017 BSB Champion, but
at Silverstone two of the three
race wins went to riders who
missed out on the Top Six, as
Glenn Irwin (Ducati) and Dan
Linfoot (Honda) both took wins.
Brookes was the other rider
to take a win in the expanded
three-race Silverstone format.
Irwin got things started by
taking the race-one victory in
changeable conditions, the first
win of his BSB career ahead
of Brookes and American John
Hopkins in his best ride of the
year on the Moto Rapido Ducati
Panigale. The race started wet
but dried over the duration, with
Irwin making the right tire choice
to take the win.
Brookes retaliated in race two
after a tense battle with four-time
series champion Shane Byrne
(Ducati) and James Ellison (Kawa-
saki), in a race that saw title rival
Leon Haslam (Kawasaki), Taylor
Mackenzie (Suzuki), Dan Linfoot
(Honda) Lee Jackson (BMW) and
Irwin all crash out with Hopkins
coming home in 10th.
The final race was a rain-
soaked affair and saw Linfoot
become the ninth different
winner in this year's BSB series
as he bested Ellison and Dixon,
whose third place gave him the
final Top Six Showdown posi-
tion. Incredibly, there were only
seven finishers in the race as
16 riders—including all other five
Showdown competitors and
Hopkins—failed to finish.
The final title fight will now
be between six different teams
and five different manufactur-
ers with three rounds remain-
ing, starting next weekend at
Oulton Park. CN
The BSB pack charges into
turn one in the weekend's
first race. It would be a
meeting full of attrition.
