Hill does the double at Castle Combe.
Tommy Hill more than achieved his objective this weekend at Castle Combe - he wanted a race win and he walked away with two. But race two wasn't a straight forward event for him as he crashed out on the first lap - after being bumped by Jonathan Rea on the Red Bull Honda - but was able to jump on his spare Virgin Mobile Samsung Yamaha for the re-start.
Tommy Hill more than achieved his objective this weekend at Castle Combe - he wanted a race win and he walked away with two. But race two wasn't a straight forward event for him as he crashed out on the first lap - after being bumped by Jonathan Rea on the Red Bull Honda - but was able to jump on his spare Virgin Mobile Samsung Yamaha for the re-start.
Second on the podium was Karl Harris who also had an eventful race, he was leading for some time only to be passed by James Haydon and during his efforts to catch Haydon he ran across the grass on the final chicane. This relegated him to fifth place, so he really had his work cut out to get his Honda UK machine back up to second spot.
The final man on the podium was James Buckingham who couldn't have wished for a better result, not only did he come home third but he set the new lap record of 1min 9.93secs - the previous lap record was set by Ryuichi Kiyonari with a 1min 10.06sec. He was given the Rizla ride as a one off and he certainly made everyone sit up and take notice of his talent. He started in fifth place and gradually picked off the front runners to gain his first SBK podium finish.
Meanwhile, team-mate James Haydon lead for the bulk of the race, however Hill passed him for the lead on lap seventeen and when Haydon put a move back on him at the final chicane, a back marker got in his way and Haydon ended up running across the grass to finish in fourth.
Steve Plater was on a charge in race two coming from seventh place off the line to taking the lead towards the end of the race. A race win looked well within his grasp when the gremlins got him - he had a problem with his rear sprocket, and had to retire.
The red flag incident at the start of the race saw Rea run into the back of Hill causing Hill to high side and Rea to low side. Rea's mechanics worked furiously to get his spare machine ready for the re-start and they just made it, his machine was wheeled out of the garage just as the grid was reforming. Rea managed to finish in sixth place, so a difficult race for the young Honda rider.
Ollie Bridewell was awarded man of the meeting after two superb seventh place finishes on a Supersotck machine. Privateer Steve Brogan managed two top ten finishes and Les Shand also on a Superstock bike finished in ninth in race two.
BSB race two results - Castle Combe:
1. Tommy Hill
2. Karl Harris
3. James Buckingham
4. James Haydon
5. Richard Wren
6. Jonathan Rea
7. Ollie Bridewell
8. Steve Brogan
9. Les Shand
10. Dean Ellison