Australian Glen Richards took the victory in today's opening British Supersport race in dry conditions after fighting off tough competitions from the Yamahas of Sam Warren and Jack Kennedy, and the Gearlink Kawasaki of Ben Wilson.

It was Richards who took the holeshot ahead of Kennedy and McConnell. It quickly changed however as Dubliner Kennedy took the lead on the brakes into the Club Chicane. After passing both Richard Cooper and Billy McConnell, Sam Warren had his eyes set on the green Kawasaki of Ben Wilson and managed to reduce the gap of around 1.5 seconds to nothing on the third lap as he slipped under Wilson as they entered the Club Chicane. It was a group of five covered by less than a half a second but five was reduced to four as Billy McConnell pulled down pit lane due to an issue with his ignition system on lap 5.

The next lap Championship leader Warren made his move, diving under Richards and leaving no room for the Australian to reply. He led for the following four laps with Richards, Kennedy and Wilson closely following.

Lap ten saw Warren lose his lead to Richards slipped past on the entry to Campbell – Cobb and drama ensued at the last corner, Club. Kennedy looked to steal second away from Warren around the outside of the first right but Warren closed him out on the left leaving him no alternative but ride across the curb and miss the chicane. Warren’s wide line consequently allowed Wilson to slip past and take second but more importantly as this unfolded, Richards pulled away opening out a 1.7-second gap.

It came down to the last lap and Wilson lead into the last corner but was too late on the brakes running wide on the last corner and allowing Seton Tuning Yamaha’s Sam Warren to take second by just 0.015 of a second.

Luke Mossey and Christian Iddon who came through the field after a disappointing qualifying left them on the fourth row. Pauli Pekkanen took seventh ahead of early front runner Richard Cooper. Appleyard/ Macadam’s Kev Coghlan came through from eighteenth on the grid to take ninth ahead of the Cup winner, Luke Jones.

Sam Warren will be on pole position for Sunday’s feature race after coming within just 0.2 of a second of Sam Lowes’ lap record. Billy McConnell, Glen Richards and Ben Wilson will join Warren on the front row of the grid.

Motorpoint British Supersport race one - conditions dry

1 75 Glen RICHARDS Triumph - Smiths (Gloucester) Racing 12 15:42.924 107.93 1:17.647 2

2 70 Sam WARREN Yamaha - Seton Tuning Yamaha 12 15:44.687 1.763 1.763 107.73 1:17.188 3

3 15 Ben WILSON Kawasaki - Gearlink Kawasaki 12 15:44.702 1.778 0.015 107.73 1:17.648 2

4 4 Jack KENNEDY Yamaha - MarTrain Yamaha Racing 12 15:44.839 1.915 0.137 107.72 1:17.819 3

5 12 Luke MOSSEY Triumph - Smiths (Gloucester) Racing 12 15:53.176 10.252 8.337 106.77 1:18.161 8

6 21 Christian IDDON Triumph - Oxford TAG Triumph 12 15:54.660 11.736 1.484 106.61 1:18.290 8

7 79 Pauli PEKKANEN Triumph - 777 RR Triumph 12 15:56.119 13.195 1.459 106.44 1:18.488 5

8 47 Richard COOPER Triumph - Oxford TAG Triumph 12 15:56.168 13.244 0.049 106.44 1:18.438 3

9 24 Kev COGHLAN Yamaha - Team Colin Appleyard/Macadam 12 16:00.598 17.674 4.430 105.95 1:18.855 9

10 82 C Luke JONES Triumph - 777RR Triumph / T3 Racing 12 16:00.708 17.784 0.110 105.94 1:18.890 5

11 95 Jimmy HILL Triumph - Vancraft Triumph 12 16:01.000 18.076 0.292 105.90 1:19.236 8

12 2 C Glenn IRWIN Yamaha - Met Healthcare/Megastore 247 12 16:05.664 22.740 4.664 105.39 1:19.135 10

13 74 Dean HIPWELL Yamaha - Globalnet Telecom/Bladen Electrical 12 16:06.153 23.229 0.489 105.34 1:19.598 5

14 65 Nikki COATES Yamaha - Team Colin Appleyard/Macadam 12 16:07.118 24.194 0.965 105.23 1:18.993 11

15 8 Luke STAPLEFORD Kawasaki - Profile Kawasaki 12 16:07.163 24.239 0.045 105.23 1:18.964 11

16 56 C James EAST Kawasaki - Mackrory Racing 12 16:10.518 27.594 3.355 104.87 1:19.681 7

17 94 Samuel HORNSEY Suzuki - RLR Motorsports 12 16:10.738 27.814 0.220 104.84 1:19.911 10

18 52 Adam BLACKLOCK Yamaha - Team M8 12 16:11.648 28.724 0.910 104.74 1:18.938 6

19 77 Taylor MACKENZIE Yamaha - MarTrain Yamaha Racing 12 16:16.167 33.243 4.519 104.26 1:20.029 8

20 100 C Matt LAYT Triumph - Formwise/Close Brothers Racing 12 16:17.339 34.415 1.172 104.13 1:19.535 5

21 23 Shaun WINFIELD Triumph - Oxford TAG Triumph 12 16:26.037 43.113 8.698 103.22 1:19.954 12

22 14 Josh CAYGILL Triumph - Vancraft Triumph 12 16:26.657 43.733 0.620 103.15 1:20.781 9

23 22 C Jonathan LODGE Triumph - ANR -TSS Racing 12 16:26.979 44.055 0.322 103.12 1:20.400 11

24 115 C Alex BARKSHIRE Kawasaki - Mackrory Racing 12 16:38.066 55.142 11.087 101.97 1:22.035 7

25 118 C Jess TRAYLER Suzuki - Aye Gee Racing Suzuki 12 16:38.712 55.788 0.646 101.91 1:21.703 6

26 6 C Craig NEVE Triumph - ANR -TSS Racing 12 16:46.231 1:03.307 7.519 101.14 1:22.430 7

27 89 David JONES Kawasaki - Gearlink Kawasaki 12 16:50.693 1:07.769 4.462 100.70 1:22.468 12

28 66 C Daniel BRAY Kawasaki - DB Racing 12 16:51.519 1:08.595 0.826 100.61 1:22.659 12

NOT CLASSIFIED

DNF 3 Billy McCONNELL Triumph - Smiths (Gloucester) Racing 9 15:35.062 3 laps 3 laps 81.63 1:17.348 8

DNF 71 C Jody LEES Yamaha - Midland VW Racing 8 11:12.805 4 laps 1 lap 100.85 1:22.237 5

DNF 20 Daniel COOPER Suzuki - Hampshire Motorcycles Waterlooville 7 9:30.664 5 laps 1 lap 104.03 1:19.851 4

DNF5 David PATON Yamaha - Double 'M' Racing 7 9:42.269 5 laps 11.605 101.96 1:21.322 4

DNF 9 C Anthony ROGERS Triumph - ANR / TSS Racing 7 9:51.716 5 laps 9.447 100.33 1:22.869 5