Race one red flagged after fiery accident.

Race one at Brands Hatch has been red flagged after 11 of the 25 laps following a fiery accident involving wild card James Haydon and Robert Ulm, who were both fortunate to escape serious injury.

Of the four front row starters; Hodgson, Hislop, Edwards and Bostrom, it was American Edwards who led the field around Paddock Hill Bend for the first time with Hodgson second, and fellow Brit Steve Hislop third.

Race one red flagged after fiery accident.

Race one at Brands Hatch has been red flagged after 11 of the 25 laps following a fiery accident involving wild card James Haydon and Robert Ulm, who were both fortunate to escape serious injury.

Of the four front row starters; Hodgson, Hislop, Edwards and Bostrom, it was American Edwards who led the field around Paddock Hill Bend for the first time with Hodgson second, and fellow Brit Steve Hislop third.

Not for long through as Hodgson threw his GSE Ducati around the outside of Edwards at Druids - and the pair began to pull away from Hislop, Bostrom and BSB regular John Reynolds.

As the field threaded their way around the tricky for turn for the second time 'Hizzy' appeared to make an uncharacteristic mistake - running wide - and losing three positions, however, at the end of the lap the Scotsman pulled into the pits - and retirement - with brake problems.

Lap 3 and Edwards slipstreamed past Hodgson along the main straight - and in front of the huge partisan crowd - but the Englishman was determined to hold the lead and a precise inside move at Druids saw the #100 machine back up front.

However, Edwards wasn't giving up and the reigning World Champion waited just one lap before slicing inside the orange machine at Surtees - and this time holding the advantage over Hodgson.

By now though Hodgson had more than one American to worry about as Ben Bostrom passed the Brit at Surtees - Hodgson trying to tough it out on the outside of the #155 Ducati - but was forced to sit up and back off when the two almost touched, handing Bostrom second and leaving Reynolds to pressure Hodgson for third.

Bostrom, the double winner last time out at his home race at Laguna Seca, then used all the factory Ducati's grunt along the main straight to out drag Edwards' Honda and take the lead, as Chile joined the lead group in fifth.

Over the next few laps Bostrom began to pull steadily away up front as Edwards and Hodgson battled for second, then, shortly before the half way point of the race, James Haydon had a huge high-side while accelerating out of Surtees, the Englishman being thrown high in the air and the unfortunate Robert Ulm hitting his stricken machine.

Both riders and bikes were sent at high speed into the air fence - where Ulm's Ducati exploded in a ball of fire - although the Austrian was unharmed, and even Haydon seemed relatively OK after a few minutes recovery at the side of the track - by which time the race had been rightfully red flagged.

Race one will therefore be an aggregate event, with Bostrom holding a 1.6secs advantage over Edwards heading into the restart with Hodgson third, Reynolds fourth and Chili fifth on the new grid, while championship leader Troy Bayliss had worked his way up to seventh by the time of the stoppage.

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