Croft BSB: Hill takes race one win

Tommy Hill leads the fight for the BSB title after taking victory in the first race of the showdown at Croft.

Despite Hill starting from pole, Michael Laverty led from the start and the safety car was out before the end of the first lap, when David Johnson crashed at the second corner.

Laverty led the race until the end of lap four, when Hill made his move. The front two would stay the same for the remainder of the race, despite Laverty closing on Hill on the final lap.

Michael Rutter spent all of his race in third place, until he crashed out at the hairpin with seven laps to go, gifting second place to Swan Honda rider Stuart Easton.

Eastons’ team-mate James Ellison didn’t have the same good fortune as Easton and retired from fifth place with a front tyre puncture.

Starting from a disappointing 10th place on the grid, HM Plant Honda’s Josh Brookes managed to finish sixth.

Two-time BSB champion Ryuichi Kiyonari started from 13th on the grid, and after a dismal start which saw him in 22nd position at the end of the first lap, he managed to finish in 11th place.