BSB: Buchan does the double, Skinner impresses at Knockhill

Danny Buchan (SYNETIQ BMW Motorrad) secured two wins for the novel BMW at Knockhill. After a podium finish in the opening race, he stormed to P1 on Sunday morning and profited from a red flag in Race 3 for his second win of the weekend. Christian Iddon (VisionTrack Ducati) claimed victory in Race 1 and gained the title lead.

Rookie Rory Skinner (FS-3 Racing Kawasaki) had an exceptional outing at his home circuit with two podium finishes and only narrowly missing out on victory. The Perthshire rider had led Race 3 for the best part before the red flag came out and stopped proceedings. Tarran Mackenzie (McAMS Yamaha) too flew the flag for Scotland and completed the rostrum in both Sunday races.

A crash cost Jason O’Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) the championship lead and he now trails Iddon by six points. Buchan sits third with a 20 points deficit while Mackenzie is within touching distance a further 15 points adrift.

RACE 1

Iddon challenged for the lead at the lights, but O’Halloran cut ahead of him at Duffus Dip to secure the holeshot from pole. Buchan was their first chaser in third and the trio instantly edged out a marginal advantage.

The running order changed on Lap 3 when Iddon claimed P1 and Buchan was in place to capitalise on O’Halloran losing momentum. The BMW rider was on pace and immediately put pressure on Iddon but did not force a rash move.

Buchan overtook cleanly at Taylor’s Hairpin on Lap 6 when Iddon ran slightly wide and left the door open on the inside. However, two laps later the Essex rider lost the front at the same corner and while he just managed to stay on his bike, he ran wide and dropped to fourth.

Out front, Iddon was left in the lead and held a half a second advantage over O’Halloran. Skinner meanwhile was the fastest rider on track and picked up positions to run sixth at the halfway stage.

O’Halloran gradually reduced the gap to Iddon in the late stages but was running out of time. Behind him, Buchan was back in third and held a comfortable advantage over Peter Hickman (FHO Racing BMW) and Bradley Ray (Rich Energy OMG Racing BMW).

Going into the final lap, O’Halloran closed in on Iddon while in turn Buchan closed in on O’Halloran. Although they were eventually separated by only a few tenths, it was too little too late to change the order.

Ray crossed the line in fourth ahead of Skinner who claimed fifth at his home track. Another Scotsman was sixth in Mackenzie while the luckless Hickman’s bike had stopped on the final lap.

RACE 2

Iddon beat polesitter Buchan to the lead into Duffus Dip from Hickman and Skinner. The top 4 held a slight advantage over the field after the opening laps, but Mackenzie was on the hunt and edged in ever closer.

Hickman dived down Buchan’s inside at Taylor’s Hairpin and although the pair swapped paint, he managed to stay in front. Buchan’s consequential lack of drive coming out of the corner allowed Skinner to accelerate past him down the start/finish straight.

Mackenzie had caught up with the group by Lap 10 and was well within contention. Hickman’s ambitions though suffered a blow when a coming together with Iddon sent him wide and down the order.

Iddon and Buchan were running ahead of a Scottish showdown between Mackenzie and Skinner halfway through the race. O’Halloran’s outing meanwhile ended with a crash at Scotsman, costing the Australian the championship lead.

Buchan executed a clinical move through Taylor’s Hairpin to take the lead on Lap 17. Although the speed of the chasing Ducati caused him trouble down the start/finish straight, he managed to stay in front.

As Buchan tried to make a break, Skinner wrestled his way into second to stop the BMW escape. However, the Kawaski rider was unable to reel his opponent back in and had Iddon and Mackenzie getting punchy behind him.

Buchan took the chequered flag with a one second advantage over Skinner. Mackenzie executed an aggressive move at Scotsman on the final lap to get past Iddon, but the time lost in the manoeuvre meant Skinner was out of reach.

Bridewell was fifth from Vickers while Hickman was kept in the race by a sensational save through the wet grass down from Butcher’s after hitting a false neutral and came home in seventh.

RACE 3

Mackenzie stole the holeshot into Duffus Dip from Skinner and Iddon. Buchan got bunched up in the pack and lined up fifth behind Hickman. Skinner reclaimed P1 on the opening lap before Iddon too moved past Mackenzie and the top duo gained some bike lengths over their opponents.

A poor few laps for Mackenzie dropped the Yamaha rider also behind Hickman and Buchan into fifth. The front quintet broke but largely refrained from moves and the race turned processional at one third distance.

Hickman moved into second down Iddon’s inside through Taylor’s Hairpin on Lap 11. The manoeuvre caused a chain reaction in the following lap as Iddon tried to retaliate with a carbon copy. He sat Hickman up and as Buchan saw the door open to also dive past, the riders made contact and Hickman dropped down the order.

The punches exchanged behind him allowed Skinner to grind out an advantage of just over a second by Lap 16. Iddon established himself as the first pursuers and chipped away at the gap, dragging Buchan, Mackenzie and Ray with him.

The chasers had caught up by Lap 22 and Buchan looked to have the best pace. An aggressive move brought him into second and Iddon out wide, sending the Ducati into fourth. He claimed the lead on Lap 24 and again tried to edge out an advantage.

On Lap 25, Glen Irwin (Honda Racing) crashed at Leslie’s and his Fireblade was left stranded in the middle of the track. The red flag came out and ended the race prematurely with the two thirds standings deciding the final result.

Buchan secured a second win of the weekend while Skinner and Mackenzie again placed two Scottish flags on the podium. Iddon had to settle for fourth.