Smith Triumph's Glen Richards had to surrender his lead in the Motorpoint British Supersport Championship even with a last-to-first second race after he was brought down by a tear-off in the opening encounter on Saturday.

The veteran Aussie slid off at Goddards on lap one and after asking his crew to go through every piece of data to find the cause of the accident, he was told be race control he hit someone else's visor tear-off and went down. The crash meant he hadn't set a fast lap and had to start the second leg from 23rd on the grid. He passed title rival Jack Kennedy for the lead with three corners left to run...

"I was really down after the first race crash especially as it happened in the most bizarre circumstances. The front tyre ran over a discarded tear-off and just folded on me with no warning so coming from 23rd on the grid was a tall order," said the Adelaide rider.

"I just got my head down and came out fighting and, to be honest, I'd have been happy with a podium so to get the win is brilliant. Apart from the crash, it's been a faultless weekend and we worked hard to get a decent setting with the bike, which we had. The bike was awesome on the brakes and although I lost the title lead, there's still nothing in it."