Hill doubles up at Knockhill
Added on Sunday, June 19th, 2011 by Carole Nash Editor
Hill doubles up at Knockhill
Tommy Hill returned to form at Knockhill today, taking a double British Superbike victory after securing pole position yesterday afternoon.
After a difficult few races for the Swan Yamaha rider Hill was able to enjoy a fully successful weekend, as he rivals fell foul of drama elsewhere.
Race one saw Hill leap into the lead from pole at the start of the outing, from where he never looked back. As others fought it out behind him, Hill pulled out a substantial gap to the remaining riders, to give him a strong opening victory.
Behind, John Hopkins fought off a late race charge from championship leader Shane Byrne to hold onto second place. Meanwhile, Byrne fought through the pack to complete the podium, after narrowly missing out on a second place finish in the closing stages.
Gary Mason found himself in fourth place by the chequered flag, despite running second for much of the opening stages of the race. After fending off the advances of Hopkins, Josh Brookes and Byrne in the early stages Mason was eventually forced to yield to the charging Hopkins and Byrne.
Brookes eventually slotted into fifth place, just inches ahead of Michael Laverty on the second Swan Yamaha machine. James Westmoreland scored a seventh place finish, with a very close battle for eighth, ninth and tenth going the way of Jon Kirkham, Loris Baz and Ryuichi Kiyonari.
A frought second race saw Hill triumph again, becoming the only rider so far this season to take both wins over a weekend, however it was more of a challenge this time around.
As the race got underway it was Hopkins who took the early lead, with Byrne second and Hill third. As the race progressed the order soon began to change, as Byrne fought his way into the lead. Soon after the safety car made it’s first appearance, when Tommy Bridewell, Glen Richards and Loris Baz crashed out of the race at the Leslie’s corner section of the track.
As the race restarted chaos struck once again, when Hopkins crashed at the same point of the circuit, taking his Samsung Crescent Racing Suzuki teammate Jon Kirkham with him in the process. Kirkham was able to rejoin the race, however Hopkins’ race was over immediately, forcing him to watch from the sidelines.
After a few laps of position swapping between Hill and Byrne, Hill eventually managed to secure the top spot with eight laps remaining, leaving Byrne to follow him across the line on second place. Michael Laverty was a short distance behind in third, with Kiyonari in a lonely fourth.
Westmoreland was some way down the road in fifth place, finishing narrowly ahead of Mason and Chris Walker. Peter Hickman made an appearance in the top ten crossing the line in eighth place, whilst Michael Rutter and Simon Andrews were left to round out the top ten.
Byrne has maintained his lead at the top of the championship standings with 172 points in total now. Hopkins is sitting in second place with 141 points, ahead of Hill in third with 120 points. The next round of the BSB championship is at the new Snetterton 300 circuit over the weekend of 1st-3rd July.
