Hudson Kennaugh saw the Fuchs Silkolene Championship title go to Glen Richards today, but has secured his second place for the Raceways Yamaha Team on 181 points, 43 ahead of third place Ian Lowry.
2008 is Kennaugh’s first season in Supersport in which he has been a strong contender throughout.  At one of his favourite circuits Kennaugh qualified second before taking the race win today at Silverstone.
He said: “If you had given us the possibility of second place in the championship at the start of the year we would have taken that for sure, but after being so close to winning we are obviously a little bit disappointed.  From early on we found we had the pace form testing, we had one DNF which cost us and Glen [Richards] has had a really good season.”
 
The South African rider who has been riding since the age of five and has since become a champion in motocross, South African Superbikes and the European GSXR750 categories.  In 2006 he entered the National Superstock championship for two years, finishing third in 2007 before moving to Supersport.
Kennaugh also entered as a wildcard in both of the British rounds of World Superbikes earlier in the year, in which he finished tenth at Brands Hatch and fifth at Donington Park.  He said: “I really enjoyed it, the team wanted to do it, it’s good exposure for us, good for Yamaha and Yamaha UK.  It showed the world that the UK championship is as strong as it is.”
The 2009 season looks to be even busier, Kennaugh said: “It looks like we will be with Yamaha again and hopefully if we are in Supersport with improved bikes, the guys will be working through the winter and we can try to win the championship next year.  I will definitely be with Yamaha, they have looked after me after since I’ve been in UK.”
“The team Raceways is run by Steve Rogers who is just mega, the guys are all really friendly and with the more backing we get from Yamaha the better we do.  We have an option for Superbike but we want to win, so wherever we have a winning package for, that is where we are going to race.  It is important for the sponsors, me as the rider and the team, you don’t want to be just making up the numbers.”
As well as continuing his participation in the World rounds there may be a further option to race in South Africa, making it interesting by taking a British team to his home ground.  With his increasing achievements talking about his overall main goal he said:  “Winning a British Championship is definitely number one on the list.”
“I could have probably gone to World, but for me the British championship is just as important as any other and now I’ve come so close I want to win one. As an ultimate goal you’ve got to be honest and say as a South African I want to be the next South African World champion, winning at Supersport or Superbike.”