The 2007 Bennetts British Superbike Championship was one of the most hotly contested championships to date. HM Plant Honda's Ryuichi Kiyonari retained the title, which once again went down to the wire.

There was an influx of new young talent set to really mixed things up with Jonathan Rea turning into an awesome force pushing his team-mate Kiyonari all season. Rea was joined by Cal Crutchlow, Leon Camier and Tom Sykes who all made the step up from Supersport.

All the race action kicked off at Brands Hatch on the full GP circuit with an interesting front row. Rea scored pole position with the fastest ever two wheeled lap of Brands. Camier was third with Airwaves Ducati securing second and fourth positions with Gregorio Lavilla and Leon Haslam respectively.

Lavilla did the double while Rea and Camier shared the podium spoils with a second and third each. The Superbikes moved onto the high speed circuit of Thruxton. Tommy Hill on the Virgin Media Optoma Loans Yamaha nabbed pole position, unfortunately he only managed eighth and tenth in the races. Lavilla snatched another double with Kiyo joining him on the podium picking up a third and a second. The other two podium places went to Camier, who was second in race one and Byrne took third in race two.

The fan's favourite Chris “Stalker” Walker returned to British shores with the Rizla Suzuki team. His first podium on his return was at Silverstone during round three, when he finished third behind Kiyonari and Rea. A repeat podium performance looked on the cards for race two, but he had to settle for fourth while Lavilla picked up second and Rea took third.

Kiyonari was on blistering form claiming his first double win of the year. It was also where Haslam's lacklustre start to the year went from bad to worse due to a high speed off during free practice.

Lavilla still held the title lead ahead of Camier, but Kiyonari was beginning to close in as the paddock headed north to Oulton Park. Championship leader, Lavilla, took pole position and was joined on the front row by Sykes on the Stobart Honda. The race turned into an Airwaves Ducati in house battle with Lavilla and Haslam bashing fairings, finishing in first and second respectively. That left the final step of the podium open for Kiyo who fought back in race two to take the win with Haslam second and Byrne third.

The championship was shaping up nicely as the paddock moved to Snetterton, where it was all to change. Byrne on the Stobart Honda took pole position and was hoping for his first win of the year. Lavilla crashed in morning warm-up and that set the pattern for his day. He only managed a sixth in race one and a very unfortunate DNF in race two. While Lavilla was struggling Kiyo picked up a double race win and that was all he needed to take the championship lead.

Byrne had an equally disappointing day with a DNF in race one due to a stone damaging a sensor on his bike, which made the machine think the traction control, was on, and wouldn't allow it to rev. He delivered the goods in race two with a third place finish.