After seven years of domination by Ten Kate Honda, Cal Crutchlow has finally broken the team's stranglehold on the World Supersport Championship by clinching the title at the final round of the season.

With Crutchlow mirroring the achievement of Yamaha counterpart Ben Spies by winning in his maiden season, while it was already a foregone conclusion that Ten Kate would hand over its crown heading to Portugal, the Briton still had to beat the Honda of Eugene Laverty.

As it happens, Laverty did his utmost to snatch the title from Crutchlow by winning the final race from pole position, but fourth was all the soon-to-be World Superbike rider needed to take the series.

It was an epic season too, Crutchlow and Laverty overcoming their lack of experience around certain circuits to put on a fabulous show. Indeed, races at Assen, Misano and Miller Motorsports Park will be considered 'classics' for years to come.

They were pushed hard though, with record-breaking former champion Kenan Sofuoglu's disappointing first half to the year ultimately preventing him from getting on terms when it mattered, the Turk nonetheless securing third with three wins to his name.

The surprise package of the season, however, was arguably Joan Lascorz, who revived the reputation of Kawasaki at Supersport level with an outstanding performance that included one win and five further podiums. Another to suffer at the start of the season, the Spaniard, who returns with the team next season, is considered a title threat for 2010.

In all, only five riders won races in 2009, with Fabien Foret's triumph at Brno coming after he prevailed in an exciting last lap dual. It also meant he was able to keep outgoing champion Andrew Pitt and former MotoGP rider Anthony West at bay for a solid fifth in the standings.

After a trying maiden season developing the Triumph Daytona 675, Garry McCoy showed great form on the revised bike, now run by BE1 Racing, in 2009, scoring two podiums to finish eighth in the overall standings, a massive leap from 26th in 2008.

It made him the biggest mover between 2008 and 2009, although other big improvements came from Katsuaki Fujiwara on the second Kawasaki (up from 22nd to 10th) and Miguel Praia (up from 25th to 15th). Special mention also goes to Danilo Dell'Omo, who, having failed to score once in 2008, got on the score sheet six times this time around.