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SEELEY MASTERFUL AND BROOKES GUTSY AT BRANDS - Malcolm - 26-04-2011 Alastair Seeley demonstrated the pedigree of Suzuki’s all-new GSX-R600, taking it to its debut victory in the British Supersport Championship at Brands Hatch earlier today in front of a packed Easter Monday audience. Supersport The former British Superstock champion and current Superbike and Supersport lap record holder at the International North West 200, picked himself up after yesterday’s disappointment, to lead home a high-speed freight train over 26 pulsating laps. Less than a second covered the top five at the chequered flag, and despite yesterday’s DNF the Ulsterman sits well poised in fourth place, just 13 points behind the series leader. British Superbikes Josh Brookes will not forget his Relentless Suzuki British Superbike debut in a hurry, crashing out spectacularly in race, which disappointingly forced a medical withdrawal from race two. Before the race one incident, the Australian had mesmerizingly scythed his way through the pack from 13th position through to second place on his GSX-R1000 Superbike. But just when he was planning out his attach on race leader Shane Byrne he suffered a wicked high-side at the top of Paddock Hill Bend prematurely ending his Easter Monday debut. Alastair Seeley “I never looked behind me in that second Supersport race and it’s a good job as I think I might have scared myself! I just watched my board today, kept my head down and stuck to the game plan. Ben tried to make a break for it but I was ready for him and when I eventually got to the front I just defended my line on that last lap and brought it home for the win. Next week we’ll get a chance to stretch the legs on the wee GSX-R600 at Oulton Park, but before that I have a GSX-R owners day here at Brands Hatch with Suzuki.” Josh Brookes “I suppose we did all right coming back from where we were in qualifying and I have to say, everything felt one-hundred percent better today on my bike. As I said after qualifying, I knew what caused the problem and once we’d that sorted we were fast in morning warm-up and in the race. While I was battling with people in the race I couldn’t get into a proper rhythm, but once I got to P2, which was quite easy, I was totally confident. I saw Shakey and thought, ‘I’m in a good position here,’ but it all ended at Paddock Hill. I’m upbeat because I really can’t believe how I didn’t injure myself in such a big crash. Now I’m just looking forward to Oulton Park.” Philip Neill – Team Manager “There are a number of positives to take away from this meeting starting with Alastair Seeley. He was pure class in that race today, and it’s not the first time he’s pulled this team out of a hole. He completely out-smarted his rivals and the new GSX-R600 package was nothing short of perfect. He rode the textbook race and we knew he had a better tyre choice than many of his rivals. He controlled the race from the front and it was the race of the day for the fans with five of them in it at the end. “Josh proved in the opening BSB race that we’d really cracked it with his set-up this morning in warm-up and I have to admit, watching him come through from 13th to second place – it’s been a long time since I’ve taken so much pleasure watching someone on a Superbike. He was so strong and made a pass on almost every lap; no one could hold him off at Clearways. He can certainly ride a motorbike and that’s why we signed him, for his never say die attitude. He just pushed that little too hard down Paddock Hill which caused the crash, but we’ll accept that and move on. Until then he made the whole GSX-R1000 Superbike package look absolutely superb. “Guy [Martin] acquitted himself really well this weekend and we are really pleased how he got on running 46.5 lap times. There are not too many of the pure road racing men who could match those times here and it sets him up well for the Cookstown 100 next week, where he will ride our GSX-R Superstock and Supersport machines.” Results British Superbike Race 1 1st – Shane Byrne (Honda); 2nd – Tommy Hill (Yamaha); 3rd – Tommy Bridewell (Honda); 4th – Stuart Easton (Kawasaki); 5th – Jon Kirkham (Suzuki); 6th – Michael Rutter (Ducati); 7th – Loris Baz (Yamaha); 8th – Dan Linfoot (Honda); 9th – Martin Jessopp (Ducati); 10th – Chris Walker (Kawasaki) Josh Brookes DNF British Superbike Race 2 1st – Tommy Hill (Yamaha); 2nd – Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda); 3rd – Shane Byrne (Honda); 4th – Michael Laverty (Yamaha); 5th – John Hopkins (Suzuki); 6th – Stuart Easton (Kawasaki); 7th – Michael Rutter (Ducati); 8th – Dan Linfoot (Honda); 9th – Peter Hickman (Honda); 10th – Gary Mason (Kawasaki) Josh Brookes was withdrawn from BSB Race 2 as a precautionary measure on medical grounds British Supersport Race 2 1st – Alastair Seeley [Relentless by TAS Suzuki]; 2nd – Jack Kennedy [Yamaha]; 3rd – Steve Plater [Honda]; 4th – Ben Wilson [Kawasaki]; 5th – Dean Hipwell [Yamaha]; 6th – Lee Johnston [Honda]; 7th – Jimmy Hill [Triumph]; 8th – Luke Mossey [Triumph]; 9th – Sam Warren [Yamaha]; 10th – Daniel Cooper [Triumph]