CAME BPT Yamaha’s James Westmoreland got his first Dickies British Supersport win since the summer of 2010, after breaking clear of the chasing pack in testing conditions.

The race started under the rain flags but was declared dry as the rain was very fine. From pole position, WD40 Kawasaki’s Tarran Mackenzie took the holeshot and began to assert his dominance at the front.

However, after an incident involving Mason Law and Matt Paulo at Graham Hill Bend, the safety was brought out and the pack closed back up again. Just a lap could be completed once the safety car had pulled in before the red flag was brought out due to the rain intensifying.

The restart saw Francis hit the front but the early pace setter, Mackenzie, couldn’t match his pre-red flag form. Aussie Ben Currie high sided on the exit of Graham Hill Bend and Mackenzie was left with nowhere to go but the grass and he consequently hit the deck.

CAME Yamaha’s Francis and championship leader Reid began to break away from Appleyard Macadam’s Andrew Irwin in third but behind them, the experienced Westmoreland was starting to make his way through the field.

The rain continued to fall and with everyone on slick tyres, the conditions became more and more difficult by the lap, but despite that Westmoreland was simply getting quicker.

He caught and passed Irwin, who tagged onto the back of Westmoreland, before the former Superbike man caught and passed both Reid and Francis.

Westmoreland put a second into the chasing pack and left it to them to battle it out for the final podium places.

Francis held second and Irwin held third after diving past Reid and Tsingtao MV Augusta’s Jake Dixon who had involved himself in the fight for the podium.

Dixon began applying pressure to Irwin who eventually ran wide at Paddock Hill Bend and handed third to Dixon.

Westmoreland eased off in the closing stages but eventually took the chequered flag ahead of Joe Francis, completing a CAME BPT Yamaha one-two, and Jake Dixo, who claimed the first British Supersport podium for Tsingtao MV Agusta after seeing off Andy Reid and Andrew Irwin.

Going into tomorrow’s feature race, Reid still holds the championship lead but by only four points now.

One Call Triumph’s Joe Collier picked up sixth on his return to racing action ahead of the impressive Ross Twyman, who came from the back of the grid to take seventh.

Jamie Perrin claimed eighth ahead of Luke Hedger and Brad Ray who rounded out the top ten.

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