Alastair Seeley took his fifth podium of the season at Knockhill during Saturday’s 18-lap British Supersport race in wet conditions, coming home in second place. His British Superbike team-mate Josh Brookes put his Relentless Suzuki by TAS Racing GSX-R1000 on the second row for tomorrow’s opening Superbike race, after qualifying in sixth place in the final Q3 session, despite a late crash.

In the Supersport race Seeley aggressively took the holeshot to avoid the spray and led for eight laps, but in the latter stages he decided discretion was the better part of valour, bringing his Relentless Suzuki by TAS Racing machine home on two wheels for 20 valuable championship points. In doing so he closes the gap marginally in the title race.

Josh Brookes – British Superbike

“Crashes aside it’s a fairly improved weekend with my best qualifying of the year, which was my plan this weekend. Qualifying this year has been one of my weak areas for whatever reason, and it may have been even better today if I hadn’t crashed, but you’ve got to keep trying. We'll just have to see what tomorrow brings. If it’s dry it’s going to be a really strange situation as we’ve ridden all weekend so far in the wet. It could be fun out there tomorrow.”

Alastair Seeley – British Supersport

“I got a good start, took the holeshot, then watched my boards, but I could hear Sam behind me. He was quicker in a few areas but I was able to close him down in others and he nearly crashed when we got caught up in back markers. I started to think, ‘do I go for it here or sit back and take the points’ as I knew Ben Wilson was behind me. So in the end, in these conditions, it was safer to settle for points and wait for tomorrow.”

Philip Neill – Team Manager

“Alastair showed his maturity today with another great ride on the new GSX-R600. He did all he could at the start of the race to make a break but Sam Warren was determined to get his debut victory today and fair play to the lad. On the positive side Alastair has closed the gap in the championship, albeit marginally, and he still has tomorrow to see if he can get that Knockhill victory.

“Josh made progress today and showed his determination by fighting his way into the Q3 session, and at one stage looked a good bet for a top three spot. Unfortunately he got caught out right at the end, not only slipping back to P6 but also crashing quite heavily. He’s not injured thankfully, but frustratingly, the boys have been left with quite a bit of work to do to get the bike ready for tomorrow. Hopefully we can be fighting for podium honours – I certainly think we deserve it.”