Tommy Hill says he feels 'robbed' to have had a remarkable result on his return to the British Superbike Championship at Mallory Park taken away from him through no fault of his own.

The World Superbike exile was making his first appearance in BSB for almost two years with the Suzuki Worx Crescent team, Hill proving a revelation by topping each free practice session and qualifying second on the grid.

Sticking with the leaders throughout the opening race, Hill was running second with only seven laps remaining, but his hopes of planting a pass on leader Simon Andrews were scuppered when he was caught up in the six bike pile-up at the hairpin.

With Hill off his bike as the red flag came out, he was therefore not eligible to be classified in the results, losing him the opportunity to at least claim a probable podium finish.

“I'm devastated about the race one result. I feel we've been robbed. We've put so much effort in all weekend only for things to turn around like they did and the result to be taken away from us – through no fault of mine, or the team, or any other rider out there except one – it's a lot to accept.”

His race two hopes would go on to be hampered by the arrival of wet weather, which he was yet to experience on the bike.

Nonetheless, he was still able to post a solid eighth place result, concluding an otherwise 'fantastic' weekend.

“That second race, it wasn't the worst result, it wasn't the best. Really, we needed a full session to get a set-up because with the bike being so new we simply don't yet have the data. Even during that race we learnt so much and we had revised settings ready to go for the restart, but it didn't happen.

“This weekend has been fantastic. From the word go we've been right at the front. And yet even when we've been topping the lap charts the team have been trying to improve things. It's a fantastic experience to be with a team that's like this.”