Tommy Hill took first blood in the first round of the new MCE British Superbike Championship Showdown format to leave Sunday's Croft round with a 16 point title lead. (see more)
Hill just held off the Relentless rider of Michael Laverty in race one, but their positions were reversed after an equally close second race.
"I'm really happy with the first race, for once it was a race that went to plan. I was able to push on and feel comfortable," said Hill. "I was very comfortable in the second race, too. I was able to pull Michael in quite comfortably and I sat behind him for a few laps to see his strengths.
"Then I passed him as planned – only when I wound the wick up he went with me! It was a good race and in the end he was able to do what I had done in the first race, to get in front and to protect his line. Although both Hill and Laverty scored 45 points on Sunday, Hill's extra podium credits from the Main Season mean he is 16 points in front of his new nearest title rival. Stuart Easton gave the Swan Honda team a welcome boost with his first double podium of 2010 at Croft on Sunday.
"It has been a much better weekend for me and I am so happy to be back up on the podium and putting the team back where it should be," said the Scot, Easton, who scored his maiden BSB victory in the corresponding round of last year. Ellison and Easton were formation flying in the opening race of the day to challenge for the final podium position, but bad luck struck Ellison once again as he was forced to retire with a puncture whilst battling for third. This left Easton to secure third place and both riders started the second race from the front row of the grid. In race two Easton made it a repeat performance with his first double podium finish of the season as Ellison was just edged out of the top five by Michael Rutter to finish in sixth.
The Motorpoint Yamaha team were 'blown away' by stand-in rider Loris Baz on his BSB debut at Croft. The Frenchman, replacing the injured Andrew Pitt, qualified eighth and finished seventh in race one, before a crashing out of race two.
“This was an incredible weekend for me, the British Championship is fantastic, the crowds, the pace of the riders the whole atmosphere is amazing," he said. "Loris gave the team a real kick of inspiration, having a young guy pushing hard sat in the same garage definitely helped Dan and the both of them came away with a good weekend. "Loris definitely exceeded our expectations, qualifying on the second row and finishing 7th for a 17 year old complete rookie to the bike and the track was amazing.
Hudson Kennaugh powered his way to a winning Mirror.co.uk BSB-EVO class double aboard his Splitlath Aprilia to peg back points, 356-322, on series leading Steve Brogan who finished third and second on his Jentin BMW. (see less)