The HM Plant Honda team celebrated its best results of the season so far at the fifth round of the British Superbike Championship at Mallory Park today, as Ryuichi Kiyonari doubled up on race wins, just ahead of team-mate Josh Brookes who took two second places.

Ryuichi Kiyonari put his bid for the British Superbike crown firmly back on track as the Japanese rider put on an impressive performance to head off his team mate Josh, as well as the following pack. Kiyo got the holeshot off the line in the opening race from pole onboard the HM Plant Honda Fireblade, although lost a few places. He carved his way through from fourth on the opening lap however to be leading the pack at half distance, with Josh tucked in behind and trying everything he knew to find a way through.

Next time out, it was Chris Walker who made the early running, but Kiyonari, who blamed himself for a poor start, had soon made amends and by the second lap was running at the head of the pack with Josh now attacking Walker for second place.

By the seventh lap Josh had moved to second and the HM Plant Honda riders were then formation flying at the front of the pack. Despite Josh piling the pressure on, his team-mate Kiyo held on to rile supreme and take his first winning double in BSB since 2007.

Kiyo has now moved into fourth place in the championship standings while Josh was also not complaining too much about being second best, as his points haul capitalised on a day of misfortune for series leading Tommy Hill.


Kiyo said:

“I am so happy to have won both races here today and it has put me up to fourth in the standings so that is a good result for me and everyone at HM Plant Honda. It has been the best weekend of the year for me with the pole position for both races and then two wins. In the first race, I had some special braking at the chicane and made a difficult pass on Michael Laverty – I said sorry to him as I pushed him wide! Then in the second race my start was not so good and I was overtaken, but I got my head down and put in consistent laps and finished ahead of Josh again which was hard to do as he wanted the race wins. Today’s results have been a team effort for sure. I had a difficult start to the season but we have turned it around and I think our hard work has paid off. I knew that Josh was going to be pushing me hard, but I stayed consistent and tried not to make many mistakes, but we are in a very good position now before Knockhill next weekend.”

Josh said:

“Race one we made some changes, then we did the same again; it was a gamble but it paid off as it improved our pace. We made changes again before the second race and we shortened the bike to try and help me where I was losing time to Kiyo out of the corners. I was pushing really hard and then I caught Kiyo but if I continued at that pace then I would have crashed for sure. At the time when I was closing, I was in control to an extent, as I was putting the pressure on him and I could see he was making a few mistakes mistakes. I just didn’t have enough to hold that pace and so I had to settle for second, which isn’t what I wanted but you have to think of the championship. I am in a stronger position now as Tommy (Hill) had a bad weekend so I have gone from 34 points behind to just four. I know though that they will be back next weekend at Knockhill, as will riders like Easton and Rutter, but the whole team’s efforts at races and in testing have paid off so we can look for more wins next weekend.”


Team Manager, Havier Beltran, said:

“It has been a great day for the HM Plant Honda team and we couldn’t have asked for more from either Kiyo or Josh today. We knew that Kiyo had the race pace as he had been running consistent times yesterday and so we knew he would be challenging for the wins today. For Josh he was disappointed that he couldn’t find that little bit extra, but then he changed his approach and two second places have now put him right up there in the championship. This is one of the most difficult tracks we visit on the calendar so to have a double one-two finish is a credit to both riders and the whole team who have worked hard to put us in this position. I think the Kiyo we saw on track today was the Kiyo of old and that means he will only get stronger. For Josh, he took advantage of Tommy’s (Hill) disappointing weekend and now is second by just four points so that puts us in a challenging position as we head to Knockhill.”



Results: Race one (25 laps)

1 Ryuichi Kiyonari (HM Plant Honda) 23m 42.274s

2 Josh Brookes (HM Plant Honda) +1.820s

3 Michael Laverty +3.573s

4 Michael Rutter +3.753s

5 Stuart Easton +13.883s

6 Chris Walker +14.155s

7 Simon Andrews +16.175s

8 John Laverty +16.343s

9 Andrew Pitt +19.469s

10 Alastair Seeley +19.913s



Results: Race two (30 laps)

1 Ryuichi Kiyonari (HM Plant Honda) 28m 20.065s

2 Josh Brookes (HM Plant Honda) +3.601s

3 Michael Laverty +9.726s

4 Michael Rutter +10.819s

5 Chris Walker +19.126s

6 John Laverty +21.249s

7 Simon Andrews +22.812s

8 Tommy Hill +23.085s

9 Tommy Bridewell +23.326s

10 Andrew Pitt +23.950s



Championship standings:

1 Tommy Hill 154

2 Josh Brookes (HM Plant Honda) 150

3 Michael Laverty 133

4 Ryuichi Kiyonari (HM Plant Honda) 128

5 Michael Rutter 114

6 John Laverty 98