SWAN YAMAHA’S HILL LEADS THE STANDINGS AFTER OULTON PARK TRIPLE HEADER

Swan Yamaha’s Tommy Hill leads the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship standings after the third round at Oulton Park as he followed up his race one win with a podium finish as Noriyuki Haga ended his weekend with a top six result.

In the second race of the weekend Hill was edged out of a podium finish in drying conditions however in the final race Hill was again challenging at the front and after holding the lead for several laps he was forced to settle for second. Haga had a disappointing second race as he suffered with lack of grip in the changeable conditions to finish 13th before fighting his way to sixth place in the final race of the weekend to move to tenth in the overall standings.

Hill said: “It was a frustrating first race with the conditions changing, but it was the same for everyone. Fourth place was not quite a podium but still consistent points for the championship and that is what we need. Fortunately it stayed dry for the last race and the Swan Yamaha was working really well and I dropped a couple of places but just stayed calm and then got into a rhythm. By the time I pulled in Stuart I had used the best of my tyre and it became harder work. Shakey then hunted me down and I tried to defend it but that was the best I had at that stage of the race. I am happy with our results with a win, a fourth and a second place and the championship lead. We probably had the most consistent weekend of all our rivals and that is what is important.”

Haga said: “It hasn’t been a bad weekend as we had our first podium finishes but in the second race I had struggled a bit with grip where the conditions changed. In race three I think with a better grid position we could have been higher up the order like in race one. I also made a bad start and then I gave myself work to do and where I pushed to pass the other riders I used my tyre too quickly and then I didn’t have enough for the end of the race. I am happy to have shown our speed this weekend and I think Snetterton we will come back and fight again.”

Team Owner Shaun Muir concluded: “This weekend we have seen great performances from both riders with Tommy now at the top of the standings and Nori securing his first podium finish. We had a few issues that the team worked hard to overcome and our aim is to come back even stronger at Snetterton.”