Glen Richards has won his second British Supersport Championship title in dramatic circumstances after neither he nor main rival Jack Kennedy could finish the final race of the season at Brands Hatch.
Smiths Gloucester rider Richards came into the finale with a slender 8.5 point margin over Mar-Train Yamaha rider Kennedy, but after being baulked behind his rival at the start, a missed gear on the run into Hawthorne's would send him off the track and off the Triumph.
Forced into retirement, a distraught Richards could only watch from the sidelines as Kennedy circulated in the fifth place he needed to snatch the title from him.
However, another twist in what has been an eventful season would occur at the half-way stage when Kennedy's Yamaha R6 began to slow with an apparent technical issue.
Sending him into the pit lane and out of the race, his retirement meant Richards was guaranteed to win the title, the second of his career after winning in 2008 aboard a MAP Embassy Triumph.
"I really don't know how to describe this weekend, it's just been crazy and it's certainly been a rollercoaster. Both Jack and I have had bad luck during the course of the year and I wanted to win the championship in style so it's not the way I wanted to win it and I really feel for Jack but that's racing I guess. One minute you're up, the next down, and then back up again.
“I missed a gear in the second race and ran into the gravel so it was purely my fault and the title had gone so I think someone upstairs was looking after me today. To end the year as British Champion is superb and the team have done an awesome job all year so hats off to them."
The second BSS title for Triumph and its
Daytona 675, the British manufacturer has already announced that it will supply factory support to the Smiths Gloucester team in 2013.