Glenn Irwin held off the determined Alastair Seeley to take his Gearlink Kawasaki to a fifth victory of the season in decisive Motorpoint British Supersport Championship Sprint race.

Second place for MarTrain Yamaha riding Seeley kept alive his hopes of regaining the crown as the two riders above him in the title stakes, Smiths Triumph team-mates Billy McConnell and Graeme Gowland, had a tough race.

Gowland overcame a third row start to fight through into sixth place but McConnell, who had slid off in the wet qualifying fought through from the ninth row to take ninth place.

Irwin had hit the front of the field iniaitally with Seeley in close contention and James Rispoli on the Team Traction Control Yamaha and Luke Jones riding the Acumen Industrial Services Triumph.

Seeley wanted the victory, moving through on the second lap but Irwin was giving nothing as they duelled at the front of the pack with Jones getting the better of Rispoli to be running third.

Irwin upped the pacewith a couple of laps remaining, attacking Seeley to grab the lead, holding on to take the win by 0.202s.

"I got stuck in straightaway though I knew Seeley would get past me and though I had a safe second I thought to myself I might as well have a go for the win. I got him, and it feels good," said Irwin.

Seeley added: "There is a still a chance for the title - I had the lead but I knew how good Glenn is in these conditions and I had a bit of a front end slid on the last lap so I decided to bring it home in second and take the points."

Luke Hedger ran fourth ahead of Taylor Mackenzie while Josh Day, tenth overall was the first Supersport EVO finisher.

Motorpoint British Supersport Championship, Brands Hatch, Sprint race result:

1: Glenn Irwin (Gearlink Kawasaki) 16m 35.301s
2: Alastair Seeley (MarTrain Yamaha) +0.202s
3: Luke Jones (Acumen Industrial Services Triumph) +4.534s
4: Luke Hedger (Gearlink Kawasaki) +18.464s
5: Taylor Mackenzie (Tyco Suzuki) +20.147s

Motorpoint British Supersport Championship standings after Sprint race:

1: Billy McConnell (Smiths Triumph) 356
2: Graeme Gowland (Smiths Triumph) 341
3: Alastair Seeley (MarTrain Yamaha) 335
4: Glenn Irwin (Gearlink Kawasaki) 295
5: Luke Jones (Acumen Industrial Services Triumph) 263




.