Smiths Triumph’s Billy McConnell snatched the Motorpoint British Supersport championship lead yesterday evening after bettering his teammate Graeme Gowland in an epic scrap.

The duo were eventually separated by just 0.001 of a second, the closest finish to a British championship race in living memory. McConnell also grabbed a new record in a race he described as ‘very fast’.

“It was pretty much a repeat of qualifying. It was real tight all race long. I’m obviously very happy, bit scary as well as I almost lost it on that last lap. We’ve come to Cadwell for the win and we’ve pushing forward, looking strong all weekend. Hopefully I can do the same today. I’m sure both Lukes [Stapleford and Mossey] and Graeme [Gowland] will have something to say about that though," said the Aussie, speaking to bikesportnews.com from the track.

"I was pretty close to going a couple of times. I hit the grass, had the backend coming round but those things happen when you’re pushing hard. We were both on the limit. All four of us were on lap record pace throughout the race. It was super fast.”