HM Plant Honda's Ryuichi Kiyonari made amends for his retirement in the earlier race of the day at Snetterton by securing victory in the final race of the weekend in a dramatic final race.

Kiyonari said:

"I am very happy, especially after the race earlier today when we missed the chance to fight for it. It has been a hard weekend and we had been struggling with the setting but we have worked between the sessions to solve this and we are getting better all the time and I think the championship is looking good again now.

James Ellison had taken the hole shot off the line from Josh Brookes and Alastair Seeley with Kiyonari in fourth, but the Relentless Suzuki rider dropped down the order on the opening lap. His team-mate Michael Laverty was up to third at the end of the second lap and made a move on Brookes to move second into the Esses, but the HM Plant Honda rider was straight on the attack and regained the position at the Bombhole.

James Ellison had taken the hole shot off the line from Josh Brookes and Alastair Seeley with Kiyonari in fourth, but the Relentless Suzuki rider dropped down the order on the opening lap. His team-mate Michael Laverty was up to third at the end of the second lap and made a move on Brookes to move second into the Esses, but the HM Plant Honda rider was straight on the attack and regained the position at the Bombhole.

Kiyonari then had Laverty in his sights and he fired passed at Riches to put the HM Plant Hondas second and third on the track, until the seventh lap when he made a pass on team-mate Brookes at Riches; the same place the Australian had passed him on the way to victory yesterday.

Kiyonari hit the lead at Riches on the ninth lap, diving down the inside of Ellison to put himself at the front of the field. Brookes then moved second at the Esses a lap later, as Ellison made a mistake on the brakes trying to pass the leading HM Plant Honda of Kiyonari.


Michael Laverty then passed Ellison to move third on the Relentless Suzuki at Russells on the eleventh lap with his sights set on Brookes, but the championship leader ahead of this race was dramatically forced to retire on the twelfth lap with a technical problem. His DNF has dropped him back behind Hill now in the overall standings as he now trails the Worx Crescent Suzuki rider by two points.

Kiyonari was still leading the pack though, closely followed by Michael Laverty, Michael Rutter, Ellison and Seeley. However, on the fourteenth lap Seeley looked to make a pass on Ellison at Sear and lost the front end, collecting the Swan Honda rider in the process with both riders crashing out and calling the Nissan GTR Safety Car into action.

Three laps later the race resumed and Hill was quick to attack Rutter, forcing his way by at Riches to move third and with two laps to go he repeated that overtaking manoeuvre on Michael Laverty for second place. He couldn't quite force by Kiyonari in the final laps, leaving the HM Plant Honda rider to score his fourth win of the season, with Hill finishing second to regain his series lead and Michael Laverty returning to the podium in third.

Rutter held on to fourth place despite the best efforts of Buildbase Kawasaki's John Laverty who finished fifth ahead of Kawasaki rival Simon Andrews in sixth. Sorrymate.com SMT Honda's Chris Walker was seventh, holding of Andrew Pitt and Gary Mason with Yukio Kagayama rounding out the top ten for Worx Crescent Suzuki. Steve Brogan made it a clean sweep of Mirror.co.uk BSB - Evo victories by holding of Gary Johnson in the closing stages.

MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship, Snetterton, race three result:

Ryuichi Kiyonari (HM Plant Honda)
Tommy Hill (Worx Crescent Suzuki) +0.591s
Michael Laverty (Relentless Suzuki by TAS) +0.954s
Michael Rutter (Ridersmotorcycles.com Ducati) +1.584s
John Laverty (Buildbase Kawasaki) +3.897s
Simon Andrews (MSS Colchester Kawasaki) +4.899s
Chris Walker (Sorrymate.com SMT Honda) +6.127s
Andrew Pitt (Motorpoint Yamaha) +8.211s
Gary Mason (MSS Colchester Kawasaki) +8.349s
Yukio Kagayama (Worx Crescent Suzuki) +9.566s

MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship standings after Snetterton:

Tommy Hill (Worx Crescent Suzuki) 218
Josh Brookes (HM Plant Honda) 216
Ryuichi Kiyonari (HM Plant Honda) 193
Michael Laverty (Relentless Suzuki by TAS) 183
Michael Rutter (Ridersmotorcycles.com Ducati) 165
John Laverty (Buildbase Kawasaki) 129

The next round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship is a triple header at Brands Hatch GP on 6/7/8 August