Hill: That was brilliant!

Tommy Hill was left understandably delighted after the youngster claimed his first ever British Superbike Championship victory in the latest round of the year at Cadwell Park.

Hill started from second on the grid on his Virgin Mobile Yamaha for the opening race of the weekend, and held his position at the start behind polesitter Leon Haslam, before slipping back to third when the second Airwaves Ducati of Gregorio Lavilla found a way past on lap four.

From there, Hill looked set to secure a strong podium finish as he established a comfortable advantage over the chasing pack, but he could only watch on in disbelief as Haslam and Lavilla touched on the final lap to let the Yamaha sweep through and take the victory.

"Third, I would have been over the moon with but first, it's just fantastic!" he said. "I couldn't believe it when I saw them go wide. The remainder of the final lap was the longest lap I have ever ridden round here. I really couldn't believe I was just about to take my first win. I think I'm in shock. I want to thank the team; they have worked so hard and we knew we would get the podium in the end and today was our day. Brilliant!"

Hill looked set to make it a double podium finish in the second race of the day, although he eventually settled for fourth after losing the final podium position to the HM Plant Honda of title hopeful Ryuichi Kiyonari.

However that maiden victory was more than enough to leave team boss Rob McElnea delighted.

"It has been an amazing experience for Tommy, one that we know was in him and he has not put a foot wrong all weekend," he said. "He has been smooth, consistent and made the Yamaha R1 look every bit as competitive as the factory Ducatis and Hondas.

"Not only do I want to thank Tommy for his fantastic achievement but a special thanks goes to my team and, in particular, Kevin Stevenson and Ian Prestwood who have been responsible for the continued development of the Big Bang configuration engine and I'm delighted that it was Tommy who has been able to prove that it is a race-winning engine. Well done team."