Ryuichi Kiyonari was crowned Bennetts British Superbike Champion after a victory and second place, behind Leon Haslam, in an incident packed final round at Brands Hatch - that saw both races stopped early.

There had been early heart-break for defending title holder Gregorio Lavilla at the double points finale, when the Spaniard saw his hopes of retaining the crown for a second year end when he crashed out on the opening lap of a re-started first race, after losing his front brake following contact with Kiyonari's team-mate Karl Harris, and then was sidelined by a gearbox problem early in race two.

The Spaniard could thus only watch disconsolately as the two pretenders for the crown slugged it out amid the heavy showers - one of which had brought the first race to a halt. Haslam had his Airwaves Ducati ahead of Kiyonari at that point, but it counted for nothing as the race had only run four laps and a restart was called: "I was gutted that I had to call the race stop but the conditions were deteriorating, it was too wet."

Haslam again led the early running on the re-start, but was a initially concerned by "an engine noise". Nevertheless, having traded places with the HM Plant Honda of Kiyonari, the Englishman was stalking his Japanese opponent in second place when the race was red-flagged again, this time because of Shane Byrne's vicious high-side off his Rizla Suzuki on the approach to Druids. This time there was to be no restart and Haslam was left shaking his head in frustration.

"I was feeling good and thought that I would ease ahead without too much trouble," said Haslam, as he realised that the eleventh victory of the season for Kiyonari meant that the Japanese rider needed only a top three finish to secure the crown.

The HM Plant Honda rider set the early pace in race two but Haslam, knowing his only hope was to win, upped the pressure and charged through on the sixth lap at Graham Hill to take the lead and then pull well clear, taking the race by eight seconds.

But, again, the action was halted early, with the red-flags out as Virgin Mobile Yamaha's Tommy Hill smashed down on the Cooper Straight with five laps remaining.

Second best in the race, but first in the championship, was Kiyonari. "Very pleased, bike very good, thank you English fans," he smiled.

Haslam was typically gracious in defeat, as he conceded the crown 466-458 to the first Japanese rider to win the title, while giving Honda their first major British title in two decades.