Mallory Park was the location for round nine of the Championship and the British weather had a massive impact on proceedings. Heavy rain hit first free practice so the session was reduced to just twenty minutes. During those twenty minutes Ollie Bridewell took to the track on his NB Racing Suzuki. He high sided and was thrown into the barriers at the Esses.
Sadly this was one crash that he couldn't walk away from. He was treated at the track side by the Medical staff before being transferred to the Medical Centre, where he lost the fight for life.
The racing went on in a subdued fashion and the out come pulled the championship even closer. Byrne nailed his first victory of the season, Rea nabbed second place from Haslam while Kiyonari crashed out, handing the title lead to Rea.
Race two saw Rea follow in the footsteps of his team-mate by crashing out and losing his title lead. The second win went to Kiyo who walked it, Haslam took second and Byrne stepped on the podium once again.
Croft in the North East was to produce some interesting results as the younger riders started to come of age. Crutchlow took his first Superbike pole position at a circuit he had never got along with. It didn't translate into a podium finish but he did finish in fourth place in race one, his highest finish of the year. Another young gun finally stepped on the rostrum, not once but twice! Sykes on the Stobart Honda rode two hard races and finished third in both. Kiyo was thrilled with his double result before heading to Cadwell, Honda's home track.
