Shoei rider Tommy Hill jumps the Mountain
Shoei-supported rider, Tommy Hill, took a win and a second at Cadwell Park yesterday (August 30, 2010) to finish the first nine-round stage of the British Superbikes Championship with the lead on points.
In an exciting day’s racing Hill, riding his Suzuki GSX-R1000, was on top form and after dominating the first race was challenging for the lead again in the second race when it was red flagged (on the 14th lap). In the first race rival Josh Brookes had taken the early lead but succumbed to an attack from Hill on the eighth lap. Hill then maintained a constant 1:27-minute lap pace while his rivals withered, so as to take the win by a comfortable 5.116-seconds. In the second race Hill had led for 11 laps and was trailing Brookes by just 0.230-seconds after 13 laps when the race was stopped.
Hill’s point tally from the nine rounds amounts to 287 points, three more than Brookes and six more than Ryuichi Kiyonari. However, with the Showdown phase now beginning, the championship points tally taken so far is cast aside. The championship will now be decided over the final three rounds (seven races) between the six highest points scorers so far, known as the Title Fighters.
All the title fighters have their championship point tally put on an initial parity of 500, to which is added only the podium points they’ve scored thus far (podium points have been awarded as three for a win, two for second and one for third). On this basis Hill steps forward into the Showdown as joint leader with Kiyonari on 525 points apiece.
Tommy Hill said: “In all I feel overjoyed. We get to leave here having effectively won the first part of the season and having beaten the HM Plant team in their back yard – that’s kind of a bonus. But now it’s crunch time and to be going into this vital part of the season with a joint points lead is a great position to be in.”
