JG Speedfit Kawasaki's Leon Haslam stole victory from Glenn Irwin in this afternoon's first Bennetts British Superbike race after a four-way fight for the win.

Irwin, Jake Dixon and McAMS Yamaha's duo of Taz Mackenzie and Josh Brookes had all taken turns at the lead, but Haslam waited patiently for his opportunity and pounced with just a few corners to go.

While Bradley Ray got off to the best possible start from pole position, leading Dixon, Brookes, Irwin and Haslam away from the line, it was disaster for the Buildbase Suzuki rider as he crashed at Becketts on the fourth lap, leaving RAF Regular and Reserves Kawasaki's Dixon in the lead.

Dixon moved into the lead from there, but Brookes sat right on his tail looking for a way through, slotting up the inside of the Kawasaki rider at Brooklands on lap seven.

Meanwhile, Brookes' team-mate Mackenzie was chopping time out of the leaders after taking two in one lap as he slipped by Haslam and Irwin. Just a couple of laps later, Mackenzie levered Dixon aside at Copse, the same place he passed Haslam, to move to within half a second of his Yamaha team-mate.

While the pint-sized Superbike rookie began showing Brookes a wheel, Dixon was nudged back a further place at Brooklands by Irwin before running wide at Becketts and allowing Haslam to get by.

Back in the fight for the top 10, Richard Cooper fell off after an incident involving Moto Rapido's Tommy Bridewell at Luffield, which race control swiftly took under investigation.

At the front, Mackenzie had hit the front just before his Brookes fell into the clutches of Dixon in fourth as Irwin and Haslam moved ahead of the Aussie into the top three.

Six laps from the end, Irwin snatched the lead at Brooklands, but Mackenzie made the exact same move the very next lap before Irwin passed him again at Maggotts, leading the way for Haslam to scorch around the outside at Brooklands and move into second.

But the top four threw out a frenzy of moves in the final two laps and, despite a few backmarkers, Haslam took advantage of a door left open by Irwin to steal the win by 0.171s while Mackenzie nicked the final rostrum spot a mere 0.043s clear of his team-mate.

Dixon made a resurgent final lap charge to move to within half a second of Brookes, while Honda Racing's Jason O'Halloran and Luke Mossey crossed the line sixth and seventh.

Smith's Racing's Peter Hickman led home OMG Racing Suzuki's Gino Rea for the former World Supersport contender's best result of the season in ninth, while Bridewell took the chequered flag in 10th.

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