Leon Haslam clinched the opening Bennetts British Superbike Championship race win at Silverstone on Saturday afternoon in a high-speed duel with six different riders sharing the lead during the 30-lap thriller on the National circuit.

The race result also secured Glenn Irwin and Josh Brookes their places alongside Haslam and Jake Dixon in the Showdown, with the fight for the final two places inside the top six going down to the wire in tomorrow’s two races between Bradley Ray and Peter Hickman who hold fifth and sixth currently with Danny Buchan, Christian Iddon and Jason O'Halloran still in with a shot of displacing them with a maximum 50 points still up for grabs.

At the start of the race Ray launched off the pole position to lead the pack from Dixon, Brookes and Glenn Irwin, but the Buildbase Suzuki rider crashed out unhurt at Becketts on the fourth lap which ended his hopes of securing his Showdown place early. The 21-year-old holds a 37 point margin over Buchan in seventh in the standings who could only finish 13th in today’s opening contest for FS-3 Racing Kawasaki.

Dixon had meanwhile resumed the lead from Brookes and Glenn Irwin, but soon the 2015 champion had moved into the lead for McAMS Yamaha and he had the edge with a decisive move at Brooklands.

He was soon under fire again though but it was from his McAMS Yamaha team-mate Tarran Mackenzie who proved he had the pace to match his more experienced rivals as he claimed the lead at the mid-stage of the race as the pair traded blows for the advantage.

Glenn Irwin was on the move and he then grabbed the lead on the Be Wiser Ducati as Haslam moved into third behind Mackenzie with Brookes dropped to fourth.

The positions were changing constantly in the leading pack and it was a raging battle between Glenn Irwin and Mackenzie for several laps with the pair changing positions every lap for the lead as Haslam closed in.

The JG Speedfit Kawasaki rider waited until the closing stages to make his move and he hit the front of the leading pack, but Glenn Irwin came back to regain the position, but on the final lap it was Haslam who held it to the chequered flag just 0.171s ahead of the Be Wiser Ducati.

Mackenzie held on to third to celebrate his first podium in the premier class in only his rookie season ahead of his team-mate Brookes and Dixon who completed the top five for RAF Regular & Reserves Kawasaki.

Jason O'Halloran kept his Showdown hopes alive with a sixth place after holding off Luke Mossey on the second of the JG Speedfit Kawasakis and Peter Hickman, who held on to sixth place in the standings for Smiths Racing BMW, with a 12 point advantage over Buchan.

Gino Rea scored his best result of the season for the OMG Suzuki team in ninth ahead of Moto Rapido Ducati’s Tommy Bridewell.

Christian Iddon overcame a fractured collarbone in Datatag Qualifying to finish in 15th place in race one, with 22 points separating the Tyco BMW rider from sixth placed Hickman ahead of tomorrow’s decisive two races.