Hill completes Oulton Park hat-trick

The Swan Yamaha rider laid down an emphatic statement of intent in Cheshire and his rivals simply had no way of reeling him in once he got his nose in front.

Hill finished 1.135seconds ahead of Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki’s Shane Byrne, who was involved in a real scrap with Noriyuki Haga and Josh Brookes for the podium places.

Tyco Suzuki’s Brookes eventually held off Haga for his third podium place of the weekend and in the overall standings he leads Byrne by just one point on 206 to sit second.

After a pair of second-place finishes, Brookes had pole position for race three but failed to hold onto that advantage as he was passed by Hill and Laverty at the start.

Although Brookes fought back to reclaim second place later that lap and even briefly overtook Hill, a mistake by the Australian saw him drop down to sixth place by lap four and two laps later Haga and Byrne were able to pass Michael Laverty.

Hill was given a hard time by his Japanese Swan Yamaha teammate, but Haga was eventually passed by Byrne and, with the chequered flag in sight, he was overtaken by a resilient Brookes to be edged out of the podium places for the third race running.

Haga, though, does enter the Showdown places, four points ahead of Ian Lowry, with Laverty – who finished fourth and fifth on Sunday – and Tommy Bridewell making up the all important top six.

But the man to beat is Hill, who immediately departed Oulton Park to fly to Japan for a test session for the Suzuka Eight-Hours, ahead of the next round at Brands Hatch on July 22.

MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship, Oulton Park, race three result:

1. Tommy Hill (Swan Yamaha)

2. Shane Byrne (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) +1.135s

3. Josh Brookes (Tyco Suzuki) +1.483s

4. Noriyuki Haga (Swan Yamaha) +1.619s

5. Michael Laverty (Samsung Honda) +3.298s

6. Alex Lowes (WFR Honda) +7.093s

7. Ian Lowry (Padgetts Honda) +9.965s

8. Tommy Bridewell (Supersonic BMW) +10.298s

9. James Westmoreland (WFR Honda) +10.864s

10. Graeme Gowland (WFR Honda) +11.191s

MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship standings after Oulton Park:

Tommy Hill (Swan Yamaha) 234

Josh Brookes (Tyco Suzuki) 206

Shane Byrne (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) 205

Michael Laverty (Samsung Honda) 146

Tommy Bridewell (Supersonic BMW) 104

Noriyuki Haga (Swan Yamaha) 102