The Swan Honda team returned to the podium in the opening race of the weekend at Oulton Park as the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship season finale got underway with James Ellison securing a strong third place.

Ellison led from the start of the race but came under increasing pressure from rivals Tommy Hill and Ryuichi Kiyonari, however a chatter problem prevented him from sustaining the position and he ended the race in third. Easton from his second row start held a consistent seventh place and now has some changes to make ahead of the final two races tomorrow.

Ellison said:

“The team deserved that podium so much as they have worked so hard this weekend to get me up there, especially as I didn’t race here earlier in the year. It was a tough race and I thought I would have the pace to match the others, but eight laps in we discovered a slight chatter problem that we hadn’t encountered until then, but we know we can try something tomorrow morning to solve it. I think if we can do that then we will definitely be able to fight for those final two wins tomorrow.”

Easton said:

“Today hasn’t been bad for me; qualifying went well and I was feeling quite happy. We went a bit softer on the forks for the race and it just wasn’t as comfortable and I wasn’t able to push as hard as I would have liked. We know what needs to be done in the morning though and I think we can move forward again as my ideal lap times were consistently good in qualifying. I want to spray the champagne tomorrow and I won’t want to settle for less.”