Drama for Supersport

The British Supersport Championship race was full of incident with two red flags, riders taken to the medical centre, a safety car, a ride through penalty and a disqualification.

Dennis Hobs took an early lead at the start of the first attempt to run the race.

The Padgetts Batley man diced with Relentless Suzuki rider, Michael Laverty and Virgin Media Yamaha’s Tom Grant in the early laps.

Laverty was first to take the fastest lap at 1:29.734 but the times then dropped to 1:29.484 by lap seven with the Suzuki man beating his previous best.

Race leader Laverty brought down second placed man, Hobbs, at Surtees on lap nine causing the first red flag of the race with both riders strewn on the grass in a dangerous position.

Laverty managed the 10-lap restart on his spare bike from pole position following his crash.

But this did not go without incident as a five-bike pile up at Druids brought out the safety car on the opening lap. Matt Layt, Craig Sproston, Alex Lowes, Ben Castleton and Ross Walter were all involved, with Lowes the only rider able to rejoin the race.

As the safety car was on circuit the number 82 rider, Rob Sketchley, lost control of his bike at Druids with his Honda rolling down the hill narrowly avoiding the rest of the field.

Grant was forced to take a ride-through penalty for a jump start, losing his lead position to Riders Racing’s Martin Jessopp.

Laverty regained the lead he enjoyed before the red flag on lap seven but the race was stopped two laps later with fastest man on the track, Billy McConnell crashing out at Surtees.

Third placed rider, Jessopp was later disqualified from the results as the engine on his Ducati failed to start during a post-race technical check. Relentless Suzuki’s Ian Lowry was the man to gain the third spot.

Hobbs lost consciousness in his but soon came round and was taken to the circuit’s medical centre for further check-ups. McConnell has also been taken to the circuit medical with a suspected back injury.