JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s James Ellison leads the MCE British Superbike Championship for the first time this season, and is now eight points ahead of title rival, PBM Kawasaki’s Shane Byrne in the overall standings.

The Kendal lad finished the opening race at Oulton Park in sixth place, but soon fought back to clinch second in the final outing of the day, meaning he goes into the season break with a total of 109 points and eighteen podium credits.

Ellison did struggle in race one but once again placed his JG Speedfit backed Kawasaki on the podium in race two, leaving the former MotoGP rider feeling “dead happy”.

“A bit like Donington, this was a weekend of two halves. I really struggled in the opening race and got caught up a bit at the start and although I was running the same pace as the top five, we just couldn’t close the gap. We made some geometry changes in between races and it was like riding a different bike as I was able to make my lines and hit all my apexes,” said Ellison.

“The pace of the top five was exactly the same and you could probably see that we were really struggling to pass each other as we were so similar – you could see it when Kiyo tried to pass Shakey that we had to go to the edge to get through.

“Obviously those two crashing out is not what we want to see but I’m dead happy to be leading the Championship going into the break and I’m really pleased for the team and Mark in particular as GBmoto has never led a BSB Championship before.”