The 2005 Season kicked off at Brands Hatch over the Easter weekend.  The weather was mixed with warm sunshine on Saturday and Monday race day, but cold and misty on Sunday.

Ryuichi Kiyonari (HM Plant Honda) started where he left off at Donington Park at the end of the 2004 Season.  He was fastest throughout practice and qualifying, but then just got beaten to Pole position by Leon Haslam (Airwaves Ducati).  They were joined on the front row by Scott Smart (Rizla Suzuki) and Sean Emmett (Virgin Mobile Yamaha).  Gregorio Lavilla was deputising on the other Airwaves Ducati for James Haydon, who had broken several bones in his left hand whilst testing in Spain.  Lavilla rode well to qualify 5th.  John Reynolds (Rizla Suzuki) riding with a fractured ankle qualified in a good 12th place.

RACE 1

Haslam went out on lap 1 when he was thrown out of the seat then accidentally hit the kill switch on his Ducati.  This left Kiyonari running away with the race at the front, to finish 10 seconds ahead of the field.  Lavilla proved to be another "super-sub", coming through the field to take a well earned 2nd place, with Glen Richards (Hawk Kawasaki) taking a close 3rd.  Scott Smart crashed at Graham Hill Bend on lap 6.  John Reynolds had a steady race to earn himself some points in 9th place.  Danny Beaumont (Honda) won the Superbike Cup race on his debut, with "old hand" James Buckingham (Suzuki) 2nd and another debutant, Gareth Glynn (Yamaha) 3rd.  Results: 1. Kiyonari (Honda), 2. Lavilla (Ducati, 3. Richards (Kawasaki), 4. Michael Rutter (Honda), 5. Emmett (Yamaha), 6. Karl Harris (Honda).

RACE 2

Kiyonari led them away again for the 2nd race, closely followed by Emmett, then got into his stride, eventually pulling out a lead to finish 5 seconds ahead of his team mate Michael Rutter (HM Plant Honda).  Lavilla once again came through to take another podium finish in 3rd, with Haslam finishing 4th. Reynolds had another steady ride to 9th place and injured Emmett managed two 5th place again.  Buckingham won the Superbike Cup, with Marty Nutt (Honda) 2nd and Chris Martin (Suzuki) 3rd.  Results: 1. Kiyonari, 2. Rutter, 3. Lavilla, 4. Haslam, 5. Emmett, 6. Harris.  

SUPERSPORT

The front row consisted of Tom Sykes (Suzuki), Jay Vincent (Honda), Eugene Laverty (Honda) and Stuart Easton (Ducati).  Easton led the field away, running at the front for half of it, but being harried by Vincent, who finally passed him.  Vincent pulled away to win by 4.8 seconds when Easton got caught amongst the backmarkers.  Craig Jones (Honda) had a good race to finish 3rd, with Leon Camier (Honda) coming through the field to take 4th.  Sykes was running in the top four until he went out on lap 19.  Results: 1. Vincent, 2. Easton, 3. Jones, 4. Camier, 5. Pere Riba (Kawasaki), 6. Laverty.

SUPERSTOCK

Andy Tinsley (Suzuki) made good use of his front row start and his years of racing experience to win the Superstock race.  He stayed ahead of the battle for 2nd-4th places, with Howie Mainwaring (Suzuki) finally coming out on top to finish 2nd, with Craig Fitzpatrick (Yamaha) 3rd and another experienced rider, Lee Jackson (Yamaha) in 4th place.