Smiths of Gloucester Triumph’s Glen Richards was crowned the 2012 Motorpoint British Supersport Championship after crashing out and seemingly see it slip through his fingers, until Jack Kennedy broke down and handed it to the Australian.
Richards got a poor start and slipped back to seventh by the first corner, before Kennedy was pushed wide at Druids and dropped in to sixth. Kennedy moved through to fifth ahead of Ben Wilson and Richards followed suit before on lap two Richards missed a gear, causing him to run into the gravel and topple over. The new rules, instated at the start of the year, meant that Richards couldn’t remount and the championship looked to swing in the direction of Mar-Train Yamaha’s Jack Kennedy.
However, one final dramatic twist was left as Kennedy raised his right hand to indicate a technical problem whilst running in a comfortable fifth place. The Dubliner brought the bike down pitlane, thumping the tank, and was reduced to his hands and knees in tears as the realisation of the Championship being taken away from him began to sink in. Richards was shown grinning on the bike back to the pitlane as he heard the news that he was the 2012 Champion.
At the front, Richard’s Smiths of Gloucester team-mate, Billy McConnell, claimed his second victory of the weekend by 0.090 of a second. McConnell was involved in a high speed incident on the penultimate lap, which saw Iddon crash out, but the Adelaide man fought back to take the win from Richard Cooper.
Luke Jones became the first ever cup competitor to take an overall podium in third, after fighting off Seton Yamaha’s Graeme Gowland and Gearlink Kawasaki’s Ben Wilson. Taylor Mackenzie took his best finish of the year in sixth, coming home ahead of James East and Deane Brown. Rounding out the top ten was Brodie Waters and Dean Hipwell.
