Jones takes 600 lead in Ireland.

Northpoint Honda Racing rider Craig Jones took the lead in the British Supersport Championship at round five of the series at Mondello Park, Ireland, at the weekend.

The 20-year-old from Peterborough took an impressive second place in the hotly contested Supersport race, which hoisted him to the top of the Championship tables.

"I had a few problems during qualifying and only managed a third row start which meant that I had left myself with a lot of work to do!" exclaimed Jones. "As the lights changed I got my head down and managed to work my way through the field, I made a few daring-passing manoeuvres, which thankfully paid off. I must thank the team for all their efforts and hard work over the weekend, I'm glad I managed to get on the podium and now I'm leading the Championship which is a huge bonus."

Once again Jones' team-mate, 19-year-old Cal Crutchlow took his second Pole Position of the season and dominated for half of the 16-lap race. Struggling with grip towards the end the youngster from Coventry still managed to score an impressive fourth position missing out on his second podium of the year by 0.001secs from MSS Discovery Kawasaki's Pere Riba in an epic dash to the finish line.

"Obviously I would have liked to have taken the win, I got a great start and was leading for a lot of the race," commented Crutchlow. "I had a few rear grip problems mid way through which I think was mainly down to the hot track temperature. I had Pere in my sights for the last corner but didn't want us both to end in the gravel, I wasn't sure when I crossed the line who got third but the Spaniard beat me by a fraction. I was extremely happy to get pole position again and hopefully soon I can take my first win for the team."

Backing up their comments Team Principle Gary Ekerold commented; "Once again the team have found consistency throughout the weekend and we have all the basics right now. We've managed to take the lead in the Championship, which is our main priority and Cal has moved up another position to fifth. It really was a fantastic team effort and they all worked incredible hard and well together. Northpoint Honda Racing are certainly showing they are a great force to be reckoned with in the British Superbike paddock."

The next round of the Championship is at Croft Circuit on June 5th. There is a British Superbike test day at Croft on May 24th.