The Japanese rider was the dominant force of the weekend, establishing his credentials by taking his second pole start of the campaign with a time inside his own lap record, and then riding hard and consistently he added to his victory at Cadwell Park in the previous round to move into fourth place in the standings.
Josh Brookes, having to settle for second best in each of the races at the Leicestershire circuit, was not too unhappy, as he capitalised on an afternoon of problems for series leading Suzuki rider Tommy Hill who was sidelined by a clutch problem in the opener and then ran a distant eighth in the second race as his lead was cut to just four points over Brookes.
Kiyonari was running third when the opening race was stopped on the fourth lap by a heavy crash involving Martin Jessop and Dan Linfoot, and on the re-start over 25 laps he had to fight back into contention from fourth on the opening lap, to be leading by half distance, having overcome Brookes as well as the determined Michael Laverty.
Kiyonari took the race by 1.82secs down from his team-mate.
There was no doubting the enjoyment of Kiyonari as he took the flag, completing his daily winning double, and his third win of the season, to be fourth in the standings, so important given the new championship regulations under which only the top six riders after round nine are eligible for the title shoot-out.
‰ÛÏI am so happy to have won both races here today and it has put me up to fourth in the standings so that is a good result for me and everyone at HM Plant Honda," Kiyonari said.
"It has been the best weekend of the year for me with the pole position for both races and then two wins. In the first race, I had some special braking at the chicane and made a difficult pass on Michael Laverty ‰ÛÒ I said sorry to him as I pushed him wide! Then in the second race my start was not so good and I was overtaken, but I got my head down and put in consistent laps and finished ahead of Josh again which was hard to do as he wanted the race wins.
"Today‰Ûªs results have been a team effort for sure. I had a difficult start to the season but we have turned it around and I think our hard work has paid off. I knew that Josh was going to be pushing me hard, but I stayed consistent and tried not to make many mistakes, but we are in a very good position now before Knockhill next weekend," Kiyonari concluded.
Brookes is in the hunt for the title shoot-out and poised to take the series lead this coming Sunday as the action moves to Knockhill in Scotland where the Australian believes he can overhaul the four points deficit he has on Hill.
‰ÛÏRace one we made some changes, then we did the same again; it was a gamble but it paid off as it improved our pace," Brookes said.
"We made changes again before the second race and we shortened the bike to try and help me where I was losing time to Kiyo out of the corners. I was pushing really hard and then I caught Kiyo but if I continued at that pace then I would have crashed for sure. At the time when I was closing, I was in control to an extent, as I was putting the pressure on him and I could see he was making a few mistakes mistakes. I just didn‰Ûªt have enough to hold that pace and so I had to settle for second, which isn‰Ûªt what I wanted but you have to think of the championship.
"I am in a stronger position now as Tommy (Hill) had a bad weekend so I have gone from 34 points behind to just four. I know though that they will be back next weekend at Knockhill, as will riders like Easton and Rutter, but the whole team‰Ûªs efforts at races and in testing have paid off so we can look for more wins next weekend," Brookes enthused.
It was a tough day for championship leader Tommy Hill after the Worx Cresent Suzuki rider suffered a slipping clutch in race one and as a consequence of his race one woes, had to start race two from the fourth row and had a huge fight on to regain places; finally finishing in eighth.
"Today's been quite a disappointment after having enjoyed very productive tests here and going so well through practice and qualifying. After dropping out of race one with technical issues I was looking forward to getting my head down and chasing a top-six result in race two. But I got shut down in the first turn and after that it was a long race trying to make up places," Hill explained.
"Obviously I'm not happy with my results, but racing always has its ups and downs. So we're off to Knockhill next weekend and I'll be looking for a return to podium finishes and podium points - and looking to rebuild my championship lead," Hill concluded.
Josh Brookes' compatriot Andrew Pitt made his debut with the Motorspoint Yamaha team with the Australian taking a 9-10 result for the day.
Main Photo: Ryuichi Kiyonari leads Josh Brookes for a Honda 1-2
Results Race 1
POS / NAME / NAT / BIKE / TIME / GAP
1 / Ryuichi KIYONARI / JPN / Honda - HM Plant Honda / 23:42.274 /
2 / Josh BROOKES / AUS / Honda - HM Plant Honda / 23:44.094 / 1.820
3 / Michael LAVERTY / GBR / Suzuki - Relentless Suzuki by TAS / 23:45.847 / 3.573
4 / Michael RUTTER / GBR / Ducati - RidersMotorcycles.Com / 23:46.027 / 3.753
5 / Stuart EASTON / GBR / Honda - Swan Honda / 23:56.157 / 13.883
6 / Chris WALKER / GBR / Suzuki - CW Racing / 23:56.429 / 14.155
7 / Simon ANDREWS / GBR / Kawasaki - MSS Colchester Kawasaki / 23:58.449 / 16.175
8 / John LAVERTY / GBR / Kawasaki - Buildbase Kawasaki / 23:58.617 / 16.343
9 / Andrew PITT / AUS / Yamaha - Motorspoint Yamaha / 24:01.743 / 19.469
10 / Alastair SEELEY / GBR / Suzuki - Relentless Suzuki by TAS / 24:02.187 / 19.913
11 / Tommy BRIDEWELL / GBR / Honda - Quay Garage Honda / 24:03.845 / 21.571
12 / Gary MASON / GBR / Kawasaki - MSS Colchester Kawasaki / 24:04.480 / 22.206
13 / James ELLISON / GBR / Honda - Swan Honda / 24:20.094 / 37.820
14 / Steve BROGAN / GBR / BMW - Jentin Racing - BMW Motorrad / 24:28.129 / 45.855
15 / Tom TUNSTALL / GBR / Honda - Doodson Motorsport / 24:28.500 / 46.226
Fastest lap: Lap 3 Ryuichi KIYONARI JPN Honda - HM Plant Honda 56.327
Results Race 2
POS / NAME / NAT / BIKE / LAPS / TIME / GAP
1 / Ryuichi KIYONARI / JPN / Honda - HM Plant Honda / 28:20.065 /
2 / Josh BROOKES / AUS / Honda - HM Plant Honda / 28:23.666 / 3.601
3 / Michael LAVERTY / GBR / Suzuki - Relentless Suzuki by TAS / 28:29.791 / 9.726
4 / Michael RUTTER / GBR / Ducati - RidersMotorcycles.Com / 28:30.884 / 10.819
5 / Chris WALKER / GBR / Suzuki - CW Racing / 28:39.191 / 19.126
6 / John LAVERTY / GBR / Kawasaki - Buildbase Kawasaki / 28:41.314 / 21.249
7 / Simon ANDREWS / GBR / Kawasaki - MSS Colchester Kawasaki / 28:42.877 / 22.812
8 / Tommy HILL / GBR / Suzuki - Worx Crescent Suzuki / 28:43.150 / 23.085
9 / Tommy BRIDEWELL / GBR / Honda - Quay Garage Honda / 28:43.391 / 23.326
10 / Andrew PITT / AUS / Yamaha - Motorspoint Yamaha / 28:44.015 / 23.950
11 / Alastair SEELEY / GBR / Suzuki - Relentless Suzuki by TAS / 28:52.710 / 32.645
12 / James ELLISON / GBR / Honda - Swan Honda / 28:59.560 / 39.495
13 / Gary MASON / GBR / Kawasaki - MSS Colchester Kawasaki / 29:00.200 / 40.135
14 / Dan LINFOOT / GBR / Yamaha - Motorpoint Yamaha / 29:03.354 / 43.289
15 / Peter HICKMAN / GBR / Yamaha - Ultimate Racing / 29:08.479 / 48.414
Fastest lap: Lap 2 Ryuichi KIYONARI JPN Honda - HM Plant Honda 56.071
Championship standings:
1 Tommy Hill 154
2 Josh Brookes (HM Plant Honda) 150
3 Michael Laverty 133
4 Ryuichi Kiyonari (HM Plant Honda) 128
5 Michael Rutter 114
6 John Laverty 98
