Tommy Hill Takes Championship Lead And Prepares For Oulton Park

The Swan Yamaha team got their season off to a flying start at Brands Hatch for the opening round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship as Tommy Hill took a first and second place to lead the standings ahead of Oulton Park.

The opening race of the day ended in dramatic fashion for Michael Laverty as he suffered a highside whilst leading the race at Clark Curve, which caused Hill to take evasive action and drop down the order to eleventh. Hill then fought back and a determined performance saw him finish second.

In the second race of the day Hill took a sensational victory at his home round after holding of the challenges of race one winner Shane Byrne and defending champion Ryuichi Kiyonari.

Hill: "It has been a long four days as it has been the most I have ridden for a while! Last week I was concerned about my elbow and I had a lot of treatment throughout the week to be ready which has paid off. It is fantastic to be leading the championship but it is only round one and it is early days still. The bike has been working well and we couldn't have asked for a better start today. We are now looking forward to Oulton Park and getting the bike to work around what is a completely different track. Hope-fully we can get there and come away with a very similar result."

Swan Yamaha team owner Shaun Muir concluded: "What a start to the season for the Swan Yamaha team. We had a long winter and the hard work has paid of and we are delighted to be leading the championship after Tommy's performance today. Michael was unlucky in the first race but he showed his potential despite that to challenge for the podium in race two. We are now really looking forward to next weekend at Oulton Park and hopefully we can be back on the top step of the podium again."