Gearlink Kawasaki’s Ben Wilson took his first Supersport win at Knockhill in the Fuchs-Silkolene British Supersport Championship ahead of James Westmoreland of JW Racing/JT Performance Centre and Centurion Racing’s Daniel Cooper.
Steve Plater of H M Plant Honda  took the lead into the first corner, but it was certainly not business as usual with main championship contenders not having a successful race.  MAP Raceways Yamaha Billy McConnell didn’t have the best of starts and went backwards through the grid, oddly for him.
However he found his rhythm again and battled back to finish just off the podium in fourth place, but he had to work for it.  McConnell gained back some points of championship leader Plater who after battling to regain the lead off James Westmoreland low sided at the Real Radio Hairpin causing him to rejoin in 20th.  He managed to get back into the points in 11th.
Westmoreland after a huge improvement to the bikes gearing setup stunned and proved to all what he can do and goes home with a delighted, well earned second place.  The main battle was between five riders for third place.
This included Centurion teammates Tom Grant and Daniel Cooper, along with Padgetts Motorcycles Ian Hutchinson, MAP Raceways Yamaha Lee Johnston and race winner Wilson.
Nobody was giving an inch and on numerous occasions it was three a breast fighting for the lead into the next corner.   On lap 11 the Centurion teammates were a duo battling for third  before the following guys caught up to join in on the battle.
It was Wilson who pulled it out of the bag to work his way up to second putting serious pressure on Westmoreland.  He didn't have it easy and at one point in the race in half a lap Wilson went from third to fifth, he came under attack from Cooper and Johnson.
It was half a lap later that Wilson decided enough was enough, he battled side by side with Johnston, moved ahead of Cooper to finally take the lead for the first time on lap 23, holding it to the chequered flag.
The track went into more mayhem as the leaders starting to mix in with the backmarkers, but what would have continued to be an on the edge of seat final lap the race was red flagged due to Jimmy Hill of UTAG Yamaha crashing on the exit of Seat Curve before sliding down the hillside where both him and his bike came to stop at Leslie’s, the corner at the bottom of the hill.
Hutchinson managed to hold on to sixth place, a much better result than his teammate James Webb who crashed out quite early on in the race.
Sam Lowes of Astro Racing Honda took the cup win finishing tenth overall and Robbie Brown after a horrific crash in practice yesterday forcing a rebuild of his bike, bounced back literally to take second in the cup championship.  He has kept his championship lead from closing in Lowes and Dean Hipwell of Atherton Godfrey Solicitors who took third in today’s race.