Haslam steals victory from Ellison's grasp

Leon Haslam stole victory from the arms of team-mate James Ellison by 0.057seconds in the opening race of the third round of the MCE British Superbike championship at Brands Hatch.

A lightning start saw Ellison take the lead in the early stages but it was polesitter Luke Mossey on the charge as he moved to the front after setting the fastest lap of the race.

Starting ninth on the grid, Haslam had his work cut out and sat in sixth place until the safety car was deployed at mid-distance following an incident involving Jenny Tinmouth, James Rispoli and Vittorrio Iannuzzo.

Tommy Bridewell was the man on the move in the second half of the race, forcing his way past both Cooper and Mossey to take second as he looked to chase down Ellison at the front.

Rapid in the closing stages, Haslam moved past Cooper into third on Lap 22 before chasing down and passing Bridewell into the final lap before dragging Ellison to the line to steal the win.

 Cooper took fourth ahead of Mossey with Michael Lavery rounding out the top six. Peter Hickman was seventh ahead of Honda’s Jason O’Halloran with Shane ‘Shakey Byrne’ ninth after a shocker of start saw him plunge deep into the pack.

Dan Linfoot completed the top ten ahead of championship leader Christian Iddon.