Double Victory For Tommy Hill And Swan Yamaha

The Swan Yamaha team celebrated their first double victory at the fifth round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Knockhill as Tommy Hill took a clean sweep of wins whilst Michael Laverty scored a podium in the second race of the day.

Hill took a commanding lead from the pole position in the first race to lead from start to finish securing his second race victory of the season after fighting back from his shoulder injury sustained at round two. Laverty meanwhile had to claw his way through the field from twelfth on the opening lap to finish sixth in race one. In the second race Hill held off championship leader Shane Byrne to become the first rider to score a winning double this season whilst Laverty took a strong third place for his title bid.

Hill said: "What a good Fathers Day present for my dad today! It has been a hard few rounds and we have been on the pace and then it just hasn't come together in the race. I thought it could have been a lottery again here this weekend with the weather but we have been lucky it was dry so there were no excuses this weekend. I thought if we could get into the front and get into a rhythm then we could be there and I couldn't believe it when I crossed the line in the first one. In the second race to win again was unbelievable and I have to thank the Swan Yamaha team for their hard work to get us up there. It has been fantastic to get the clean sweep of pole, fastest lap and two race wins this weekend. We knew we could push but it is just great for our championship; more points and more podium credits was what we needed and that is what we got and that will prove so important later in the season ahead of the
Showdown."

Shaun Muir concluded: "What a great result to get our first double win in the championship and at the same time the first double for any team so far this season. All the hard work behind the scenes from the team and Tommy since his injury has really paid off and he just reasserted his position as a main title contender this weekend. Michael had a hard opening race but he definitely showed in race two that his confidence is high and he can also fight for the title. All I can say is roll on Snetterton now!"