Swan Yamaha's Tommy Hill cruised to victory in the second British Superbike race of the weekend at Cadwell Park this lunchtime with team-mate Michael Laverty second in a reversal of the first outing result yesterday with Shane Byrne once again occupying the final podium spot.

But the race spelled the end of Michael Rutter's challenge for a spot in the Showdown as he was forced to pull in at the end of the second lap. He broke a couple of ribs in his collision with Josh Brookes yesterday and is struggling to breathe.

Ironically, Relentless Suzuki's Brookes took fourth place ahead of Peter Hickman, who is riding the Aussie's bike from last year, and booked his place in the Showdown with Ryuichi Kiyonari finishing in ninth and only needs seven more points than Jon Kirkham and 11 more than Gary Mason to secure his final six pace in the second race today.

Hill and Laverty tried to run away at the front when the lights went out but Byrne and Brookes went with them and Hickman tagging on the back. The front three made a break and slowly pulled a gap on Brookes and Hill hit the front while Byrne missed a gear through Barn and nearly tipped off.

Byrne and Laverty traded places twice on lap three, which allowed Hill to sneak away while Kiyonari made this way through the field, passing James Ellison and Gary Mason to make it inside the top ten.

As the laps counted down, Hill stretched his gap to 1.5s while Laverty also started to pull clear of Byrne. Hickman could do nothing about the pace of Brookes through the twisty section so took a more than creditable fifth place.

Samsung Suzuki's Kirkham finished ahead of the sole Rapid Ducati of Martin Jessopp with Graeme Gowland on the Evo-spec WFR Honda once again raising eyebrows in eighth. Kiyonari and MSS Kawasaki's Mason round out the top ten with Ellison's Sorrymate.com Honda in 11th.

Scott Smart, on the Moto Rapido Ducati, was the second Evo bike home in 12th after he snuck past Glen Richards right at the death. Alex Lowes and Chris Walker both crashed out of the race.

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Grid for race three:

Hill (pole), Byrne, Laverty

Hickman, Brookes, Lowes

Kirkham, Gowland, Kiyonari

Championship points:

Byrne 287

Brookes 159

Kiyonari 153

Kirkham 135

Mason 131

Rutter 130

Evo championship points:

Richards 218

Burrell 229

Muff 200

Gowland 196

Smart 192