Donington BSB: Maiden Supersport win for van Sikkelerus

Jamie van Sikkelerus (MPM Routz Racing Yamaha) took a thrilling Quattro Group British Supersport Championship race victory at Donington Park on Sunday afternoon, the Dutchman getting the better of Harry Truelove and Lee Johnston to claim his first ever series win.

There was drama at the start with jump starts by Rhys Irwin (Astro-JJR Triumph) and Damon Rees (Ashcourt Racing Yamaha) and just two corners later, Saturday’s race winner Bradley Perie (Appleyard Macadam Yamaha) crashed out at Craner Curves, nearly taking Johnston with him. Once the dust had settled, it was an Ashcourt Racing Yamaha 1-2 with Rees leading teammate Johnston, Tom Booth-Amos (Gearlink Kawasaki), Truelove and van Sikkelerus following. Irwin took his ride through penalty at the start of lap four with Rees doing likewise a lap later. Back at the front and there was just three tenths of a second covering Booth-Amos, Truelove and Johnston after five laps but a lap later, Johnston moved up to second with a move up the inside of Truelove at the Melbourne Haiprin. However, the Ulsterman then made a mistake at Redgate and dropped back to fourth as both Truelove and van Sikkelerus moved ahead. Further behind, Luke Jones (Highsparks Ducati) was running in fifth ahead of Eugene McManus (Completely Motorbikes/Affinity Kawasaki) and leading GP2 runner Jack Scott who was back out after his heavy crash the previous day. By half race distance, the front four of Booth-Amos, van Sikkelerus, Truelove and Johnston were running nose to tail once more with less than half a second between them and the Kawasaki man was doing all he could to keep the three Yamahas at bay. Truelove squeezed ahead going into Coppice on lap ten with Johnston back in third and this became second