Swan Yamaha’s Tommy Hill scored a double podium finish for the fifth consecutive round by fighting for a second and third place finish at the ninth round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Donington Park today.

In both races Hill battled with his main title rivals to finish in second and third places as the defending champion continues to lead the standings by ten points ahead of the first round of the Showdown at Assen in two weeks’ time. Noriyuki Haga fought through the pain of his collarbone injury, but missed out on scoring points in race one by finishing in 21st position. In race two the team worked hard on making some setting changes which gave him a boost that saw him fighting inside the top ten until dropping to twelfth over the closing stages.

Hill said:

“Two podiums were what we needed today and it is nice to have a bit of a lead in the standings going in to the Showdown at Assen. You can’t pay too much attention to it though as anything can happen. Cadwell Park was my weekend to do the double and this weekend it was Josh Brookes. It has been a bit frustrating for us as we wanted to try and come away with two double wins but we still have that ten points over Josh so hopefully we can keep pushing on and come out on top at Assen. We have been struggling all weekend but we made a big change this morning, then we managed to pull something out of the bag.”

Haga said:

“I was very disappointed that my body was not 100% for this weekend and that I could not stay in a top six position. Up until race one I could not ride as well I would have liked as we couldn’t find the right setting and I had many moments when I almost high-sided then it made my shoulder painful again. My crew chief Mark found me a good setting for race two and then I felt better and really enjoyed the race. I will continue to try and heal some more for Assen and I really want get back on the podium there.”

Team Owner Shaun Muir concluded:

“I am pleased for Tommy as he had two strong podium finishes, especially after what has been a difficult weekend for us to make him comfortable with the setting, so I consider this a good result. I feel sorry for Noriyuki as he tried so hard but it was a big mountain to climb to try and get back into the top six with his injury. He impressed me how he came back again in race two, but for us we want to bring on the Showdown now. Podiums are still achievable for Nori and he can still play a big part in the outcome of the championship.”

.