Tom Booth-Amos was the man to capitalise on a late fall from the lead by Luke Stapleford to clinch his fourth win of the 2023 British Supersport Championship [BritishSSP] season in the Sprint Race at Snetterton.

Fresh from scoring a career-best sixth place result in the WorldSSP Championship, which he is dovetailing with campaign in BritishSSP this year, at Donington Park last weekend, Booth-Amos seemed destined to lose more ground to points’ leader Stapleford after a brief mid-race challenge faded in the latter stages.

However, with just under two laps of the race remaining, Stapleford threw away victory when he slid off the Profile Kawasaki coming into Oggies for the penultimate time.

Ending a run of five consecutive podium finishes, Stapleford had worked hard to haul himself into the lead after dropping to third initially having started on pole.

However, after rebuffing a momentary slip to fourth at the start of lap three, his retort to Jamie Perrin on the run down to Turn 2 instead carried momentum up the inside of Booth-Amos at Wilson. Coming in deep, Stapleford got the scruffy move done but not before rubbing shoulders with his title rival.

From here, Stapleford got the hammer down to reel early leader Rhys Irwin in, the Astro-JJR Suzuki rider coming out of the blocks faster as he looked to build on a trip to the points on his WorldSSP debut as a wild-card at Donington Park.

With Booth-Amos following him through, the Gearlink Kawasaki rider briefly rallied for the lead but had seemingly settled for second when Stapleford’s crash invited him past and on to victory.

Irwin held on for second place on the Suzuki GSX-R750, with Ben Currie coming through for a valuable third place finish, a result that lifts him to the head of the standings at the expense of Stapleford. 

The Oxford Racing Products Ducati rider never quite got into the lead mix, but another solid podium means the Currie - who is yet to win a race this year - holds a slim four point lead over Booth-Amos overall, with Stapleford now 11 points adrift in third.

Jamie van Sikkelerus came through for fourth place, ahead of Luke Jones and James Perrin in fifth and sixth, the trio picking up positions at the expense of Stapleford, Tom Toparis - who crashed out of fifth on lap four - and front row starter Zak Corderoy, who retired metres into the race after contact with Currie off the line bent his handlebar.