Brookes and Iddon kick start their Showdown on the podium

Josh Brookes lined up for the opening race at Oulton Park, the first of the Showdown, at the front of the grid after claiming his first pole position of the season earlier in the day. 

As the lights went out the VisionTrack Ducati rider slotted in behind McAMS Yamaha’s Jason O’Halloran briefly before taking the lead to complete his first lap ahead of O’Halloran and O’Halloran’s teammate Tarran Mackenzie, and Brookes’ own teammate Christian Iddon 

Lap 2 saw O’Halloran pass Brookes to take the lead, while Iddon had passed Mackenzie for third. And as the riders started Lap 3 Tommy Bridewell was up into seventh on the Oxford Products Racing Ducati, having started all the way back in 15th after a poor qualifying session where he suffered a technical fault. Brookes then retook the lead in to Hislop’s, while Iddon was demoted back to fourth by Mackenzie.

Lap 5 saw Gino Rea crash out on his Buildbase Suzuki, promoting Bridewell to sixth, while Brookes and O’Halloran briefly swapped positions at the front.

Riders were holding station up to Lap 10, where less than a second separated Brookes, O’Halloran, Iddon and Mackenzie, until O’Halloran pounced on Brookes into Clay Hill to snatch the lead later in the lap.

Lap 12 saw Mackenzie pass Iddon for third until drama struck when championship leader O’Halloran crashed out. Brookes was promoted to the lead only to have Mackenzie pass him on the final lap and take the chequered flag, with VisionTrack Ducati teammates Brookes and Iddon claiming second and third respectively, the latter crossing the line just 0.024s ahead of FS-3 Kawasaki's Lee Jackson.

Bridewell finished his race in sixth. But he has a much-improved grid position for the first race on Sunday in sixth. Brookes starts just ahead in fifth, while Iddon lines up on the front row in second place, behind pole sitter O’Halloran.

Josh Brookes (VisionTrack Ducati #25) – 2nd
“I was counting the laps down whilst I was in the lead. I know it’s only a short race, 14 laps, but when you’re leading you want it to go quicker. Unfortunate for Jason to crash, I don’t want to beat him under those circumstances. But then I had to try and beat Taz as well. Fair play to Taz for making the charge when he did. He made the. Pass and he made it stick. At the end of the race, I didn’t have anything more, that was my max. I’m pleased with the race, I’m pleased to be back on the podium, seems to be regular again. Thank you to all the fans. When you win races, you expect people are going to congratulate you but it’s amazing how much, at the start of this year with the bad results, how much people have been sending me messages and the fans have been behind me, so really appreciate that, thanks guys.” 

Christian Iddon (VisionTrack Ducati #21) – 3rd
“Towards the end I felt as though if I had the power I could have got more. But didn’t have it. Try and regroup and get ready for tomorrow. To get on the podium is fantastic. We had a very average qualifying, wrong tyre choice. Got a good start, got up at the front quite early, made a few moves and was feeling half decent. It’s nice to keep the podium runs, I’ve got seven on the trot here at Oulton so keep that going and we will be alright. There’s a lot going on at the moment, it’s hard, a bit emotional. So, I’ll try to use that emotion as a positive thing.”