Michael Laverty became the fourth rider to consolidate his place as a Title Fighter ahead of the final three round Showdown with a victory in the opening race in the triple header ninth round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Cadwell Park.

Laverty and Yamaha teammate Tommy Hill duelled intensely throughout but Laverty had the upper-hand, to take his second victory of the season by 0.214seconds and join Hill amid the six riders who will go forwards into the end of season Showdown that will determined the outcome of the crown.

“I am feeling pretty happy with that win as it is good for my championship and consolidating my position in the top six for the Showdown,” Laverty reflected. “I got off to a good start and was able to set the pace but I did make a few mistakes and knew that Tommy was close behind me. The bike was working well and we have more to come.”

The race which was red-flagged five laps early because of light rain at the Hall Bends section of the Lincolnshire course but there was drama when a controversial move on the sixth lap as Aussie Josh Brookes made a hard overtaking move on Michael Rutter who crashed his Rapid Solicitors Bathams Ducati sustaining rib injuries.

Relentless Suzuki riding Brookes attempted to defend his move.

“You’ve got to go for every point you can at this stage of the championship – I had been up his exhaust pipes for four or five laps and had to make the move at Hall Bends,” Brookes said.

“I showed him the front wheel and had not intention of taking him down but he kept on the power. I wanted to make the pass but he went down – I expect that people will be saying bad boy Brookes is back,” he added.

Brookes finished the race in third place on the road ahead of the leader in the overall standings Shane Byrne aboard the HM Plant Honda but later after race officials had studied video of the incident and interviewed both teams Brookes was excluded from the results.

Jon Kirkham was classified fourth on the Samsung Crescent Suzuki with the reigning champion Ryuichi Kiyonari fifth from his fifth row start and edging nearer to securing his place among the title fighters as he capitalised on the demise of Rutter.

There are still two Title Fighter places to be decided in tomorrow’s two races ahead of the Showdown with Brookes equal on points with Kiyonari, ahead of Rutter, Mason, Kirkham and Peter Hickman still mathematically in with a chance of making the critical cut.

Glen Richards who finished 10th on the WFR Honda won the Mirrror.co.uk BSB-EVO class to tighten his grip on the title as he finished ahead of his team-mate Graeme Gowland with Moto Rapido Ducati rider Scott Smart third in class.

Laverty is well placed to add to his winning tally. He will start the first of Monday afternoon’s two races from pole position after eclipsing his team-mate Hill with a scorching final lap, bettering the lap record.

In Supersport, Australia’s Billy McConnell rode his Triumph to third position in race one.

Click here for detailed results