Smiths Triumph’s Billy McConnell stormed to Motorpoint British Supersport victory on a hectic last lap, which saw Jack Kennedy keep his championship hopes alive by clinching second ahead of Glen Richards.

A brief rain shower delayed the start to the race but as the lights went out Gearlink Kawasaki’s Ben Wilson came from the third row of the grid to take the holeshot ahead of Mar-Train Yamaha’s Jack Kennedy. As the pack flicked through Graeme Hill Bend, Nikki Coates crashed out and was collected by another rider causing the safety car to be brought out.

As the race continued McConnell took the lead but it wasn’t for long as his team-mate and Championship leader Glen Richards squeezed past the Adelaide man at Paddock Hill Bend. Richards appeared to pull away from the chasing trio of McConnell, Iddon and Kennedy as he posted the fastest lap of the race and opened out over a second.

The chasing trio closed back in on Richards and with two laps remaining McConnell did his team-mate no favours by pushing past him. Richards fought back at Stirlings only to be passed once again by McConnell on the brakes into Druids.

However, Richards held the lead on to the last lap and seemed to have a comfortable advantage as Christian Iddon moved past McConnell into Paddock Hill Bend. McConnell fought back though, going past Iddon and then Richards at the penultimate corner of Stirlings, with Kennedy for the first time in the race beginning to look imminent behind the two Australians.

As they went through the last corner of Clearways McConnell secured the victory but Richards had a minor rear wheel slide, allowing the Yamaha of Kennedy to drive around the outside and take second but more importantly four points away from Richards by just 0.005 of a second.

With just one race remaining Richards leads the championship by 8.5 points meaning all the Adelaide man has to do is finish on the podium, regardless of where Kennedy finishes, and the championship will be his.

Christian Iddon could only manage fourth but was just over two tenths of a second off of the winner, McConnell. TAG Triumph’s Richard Cooper took fifth after getting the better of Luke Jones and Ben Wilson who dropped back after his strong start. Glenn Irwin came home in eighth with Graeme Gowland and Taylor Mackenzie rounding out the top ten.

Motorpoint British Supersport race one - conditions dry

13 Billy McCONNELL Triumph - Smiths (Gloucester) Racing 10 15:37.976 93.39 1:28.792 7

2 4 Jack KENNEDY Yamaha - MarTrain Yamaha Racing 10 15:38.141 0.165 0.165 93.37 1:28.742 7

3 75 Glen RICHARDS Triumph - Smiths (Gloucester) Racing 10 15:38.146 0.170 0.005 93.37 1:28.918 8

4 21 Christian IDDON Triumph - Oxford TAG Triumph 10 15:38.205 0.229 0.059 93.36 1:28.929 7

5 47 Richard COOPER Triumph - Oxford TAG Triumph 10 15:38.270 0.294 0.065 93.36 1:28.553 7

6 82 C Luke JONES Triumph - 777RR Triumph / T3 Racing 10 15:38.918 0.942 0.648 93.29 1:28.844 7

7 15 Ben WILSON Kawasaki - Gearlink Kawasaki 10 15:38.958 0.982 0.040 93.29 1:28.885 7

8 2 C Glenn IRWIN Yamaha - Met Healthcare/Megastore 247 10 15:42.053 4.077 3.095 92.98 1:29.130 7

9 81 Graeme GOWLAND Yamaha - Seton Tuning Yamaha 10 15:42.095 4.119 0.042 92.98 1:29.243 8

10 77 Taylor MACKENZIE Yamaha - MarTrain Yamaha Racing 10 15:48.215 10.239 6.120 92.38 1:30.231 5

11 56 James EAST Kawasaki - Gearlink Kawasaki 10 15:50.056 12.080 1.841 92.20 1:30.264 7

12 74 Dean HIPWELL Yamaha - Globalnet Telecom/Bladen Electrical 10 15:58.616 20.640 8.560 91.38 1:31.461 9

13 25 Brodie WATERS Suzuki - Hampshire Motorcycles Waterlooville 10 15:58.716 20.740 0.100 91.37 1:30.867 9

14 23 Shaun WINFIELD Triumph - Oxford TAG Triumph 10 15:58.801 20.825 0.085 91.36 1:31.394 9

156 C Craig NEVE Triumph - ANR -TSS Racing 10 16:00.388 22.412 1.587 91.21 1:30.981 9

16 11 John SIMPSON Triumph - Trickbits / FBM Performance 10 16:00.846 22.870 0.458 91.16 1:30.444 9

17 22 C Jonathan LODGE Triumph - ANR -TSS Racing 10 16:01.232 23.256 0.386 91.13 1:31.516 9

185 David PATON Yamaha - Double 'M' Racing 10 16:02.904 24.928 1.672 90.97 1:31.692 8

19 58 Scott HUDSON Triumph - Vancraft Triumph 10 16:03.506 25.530 0.602 90.91 1:31.705 8

20 27 C Robbie STEWART Kawasaki - Mackrory Racing 10 16:10.387 32.411 6.881 90.27 1:32.378 7

21 14 C David HAIRE Honda - B&W Racing 10 16:10.725 32.749 0.338 90.24 1:32.224 6

22 16 C Martin VAN RUITENBEEK Yamaha - Ruitenbeek Racing 10 16:19.531 41.555 8.806 89.42 1:33.827 10

23 33 C Gary WINFIELD Triumph - Oxford TAG Triumph 10 16:41.786 1:03.810 22.255 87.44 1:36.411 7

NOT CLASSIFIED

DNF7 Deane BROWN Yamaha - Team Colin Appleyard/Macadam 4 6:46.910 6 laps 6 laps 86.11 1:31.449 4

DNF 100 C Matt LAYT Triumph - Formwise / Close Brothers Racing 4 6:52.126 6 laps 5.216 85.02 1:33.447 4

DNF 52 Adam BLACKLOCK Yamaha - Team M8 0

DNF 65 Nikki COATES Yamaha - Team Colin Appleyard/Macadam 0

DNF 171 Juha KALLIO Triumph - 777 RR Triumph 0