Swan Yamaha's Tommy Hill took his fourth win of the season in race one of the MCE British Superbikes at a dismal Oulton Park this afternoon as John Hopkins slung his Samsung Suzuki into the gravel trap at Lodge, handing series leader Shane Byrne a load of points to extend the championship gap.
After a slight delay the race got underway, Hopkins made the most of his pole position to easily take the lead but current championship leader Shane Byrne of HM Plant Honda took the lead a couple of corners later as Hill was close in third, hanging onto the front group.
Lap three saw Relentless Suzuki's Josh Brookes set the fastest lap and was on the move. Byrne still led Hopkins ahead of Hill, Michael Rutter of Rapid Ducati, Brookes, Michael Laverty of Swan Yamaha and MSS Kawasaki's Gary Mason who despite falling down to 10th over the first few laps worked his way back up to take fifth.
Hopkins regained the lead as lap five started, it was clearly visible how much he was pushing as he continued to pull a gap. Meanwhile Hill temporarily took second away from Byrne but was unable to keep it and Brookes moved up to fourth ahead of Rutter.
On lap six Hopkins crashed out of the lead caused by what seemed to be slightly too hard a grab of the front brake giving the lead to Hill who had now got ahead of Byrne. Just as Michael Laverty set the fastest lap the safety car came out to deal with the oil spill from Hopkins crash.
Lap ten saw the safety car pull in, Hill immediately opened a bit of a gap that he continued to build up to over five seconds as he crossed the finish line first. Second to seventh was a train of riders. As the riders were about to start the 11th lap Brookes grabbed third away from Byrne.
On the penultimate lap Rutter started to put more pressure on Byrne for that final podium position. It was a case of when and where the attack would take place. It was, in style, at the last corner where he out dragged Byrne to take third by eight hundredths of a second. It was not a good race for Ruichi Kiyonari of HM Plant Honda who only managed to grab one point in 15th.
Scott Smart snaffled the Evo win from under Glen Richards' nose with Graeme Gowland taking third. Smart had worked his way through the field and took advantage of the safety car to close the gap to Richards before passing the Aussie in the closing stages. He also held off James Ellison for tenth place overall. Richards was 12th with Gowland 16th. Title challenger Patric Muff launched it spectacularly early on through Old Hall.
Grid for race two:
Hill (pole), Laverty, Brookes, Mason
Rutter, Byrne, Hopkins, Baz
Championship points:
Shane Byrne 214
John Hopkins 182
Tommy Hill 165
Ryuichi Kiyonari 121
Josh Brookes 111
Evo championship points
Glen Richards 217
Barry Burrell 168
Simon Andrews 159 (injured)
Patric Muff 153
Alex Lowes 145 (no longer in championship)
