Cal Crutchlow has taken a significant step towards the 2009 World Supersport Championship title after claiming a dominant victory on home soil at Donington Park.

Leading for the majority of the race, Crutchlow's achievement, however, was almost overshadowed by a superb ride from key rival Eugene Laverty, who launched an immense fight back to finish fifth following a tumble on the third lap that left him at the back of the field.

Having dominated all sessions prior to the race, Crutchlow was the hot favourite to convert his pole position into a race win, but he was defeated into the opening bend by Joan Lascorz, who moved into the lead from third on the grid.

Crutchlow and Laverty slotted in behind the Kawasaki rider and it would soon become obvious that the victor would emerge from the top three as they pulled away immediately.

However, having broken the lap record on his first flying lap in the race, Laverty's hopes of challenging Crutchlow for the win came to an end on lap three when he lost the back-end of his Parkalgar Honda at the low speed Melbourne Hairpin.

Being spun off his machine, Laverty frantically attempted to get the bike upright again, but while he was successful in getting going, he was left at the back of the field having lost twenty seconds on the leaders.

Almost straight away, Crutchlow planted his move on Lascorz to claim the lead, a position he would hold to the chequered flag despite the best attempts of the Spaniard to keep up with his rival.

Setting a series of record-breaking lap times, including a 1min 32.449secs lap, Crutchlow would simply march to the finish line to win by more than five seconds over Lascorz.

Meanwhile, Garry McCoy returned to the Supersport podium with a fantastic run to third position on the BE1 Racing Triumph. Keeping the leaders honest in the early stages, McCoy reeled in Kenan Sofuoglu before overtaking him with ten laps remaining. The result signals Triumph's best since entering the Supersport category.