Swan Yamaha's Tommy Hill cruised to the first British Superbike race win at Knockhill this afternoon in dry conditions for the first time this weekend, crossing the line nearly nine second ahead of John Hopkins who was run very close by Shane Byrne.

Hill never looked back after the lights went out as he, MSS Kawasaki's Gary Mason and the Samsung Suzuki of Hopkins immediately made a break and ran away from the field with Josh Brookes and James Westmoreland in hot pursuit.

The Lingfield man got his head down and pulled away while Mason and Hopkins also increased their lead over Brookes, who was having serious trouble keeping Motorpoint Yamaha's Westmoreland behind and didn't with the follically-challenged Yorkshireman going past on lap eight.

Byrne, meanwhile, quietly made his way through the field and took the last podium spot away from Mason but couldn't quite do anything about Hopkins, even though it looked like the American was running out of tyre in the final few laps.

Michael Laverty, on the second Swan bike, had to come through from mid-pack after his poor qualifying performance and, after a slow start, managed to take sixth behind Brookes after the pair got the better of Westmoreland.

Samsung Suzuki's Jon Kirkham finished eighth after bashing fairings with Laverty again while Loris Baz picked up ninth and Ryuichi Kiyonari completed the top ten with another disappointing ride.

Glen Richards picked up the points in the Evo class and was 12th overall, with Simon Andrews getting the better of Scott Smart late on to finish second. Michael Rutter used the new grid system to his advantage - after retiring from the race he went back out and put in a lap fast enough to ensure a second-row start in race two.

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Grid for race two:

Hill (pole), Byrne, Hopkins, M Laverty

Mason, Rutter, Westmoreland, Kiyonari