The 25-year-old Yorkshireman made a great start to race one and was running as high as second place in the early stages before he was outbraked by the HM Plant Honda Racing riders Ryuichi Kiyonari and Michael Rutter on the fast drag from Church Corner to the Club Chicane. Harris battled throughout the 22-lap race with Leon Haslam, Gregorio Lavilla and Sean Emmett, taking a credible sixth position on the Dunlop/BLD-backed Honda-Racing.co.uk CBR1000R Fireblade.



A similar pattern followed in race two, with Harris more than holding his own in the tough conditions of the championship that is universally acknowledged as the most competitive domestic series in the world. With ex-World Superbike and GP riders in front of him and a long-standing lap record being smashed, Harris concentrated on making sure the excellent debut he has made to this year's championship didn't end in the gravel trap and he finished race two in eighth place.



Karl Harris: "All things considered I'm reasonably happy with my results today. It was great to have qualified on the front row and get up to second place in the early stages of race one but having moved up to Superbike level, maintaining this kind of position is never easy. The CBR1000RR Fireblade felt incredibly composed out there, so I didn't need to change much for race two. Although I won here in last year's British Supersport Championship, I'm still on a steep learning curve and my goal is to finish every race this year as far up the points table as possible."


Superbike race one result: 1. Ryuichi Kiyonari (HM Plant Honda Racing) 28:05.231; 2. Michael Rutter (HM Plant Honda Racing) + 9.672; 3. G. Lavilla (Ducati) + 12.111; 4. L.Haslam (Ducati) + 15.791; 5. S.Emmett (Yamaha) + 15.817; 6. K.Harris (Honda-Racing.co.uk) + 17.628; 7. S. Smart (Suzuki) + 18.340; 8. D. Thomas (Kawasaki) + 18.615; 9. G. Richards (Kawasaki) + 25.311; 10. T. Hill (Yamaha) + 32.655


Fastest lap: G. Lavilla (Ducati) 1:15.699



Superbike race two result: 1. Ryuichi Kiyonari (HM Plant Honda Racing) 28:45.734; 2. G. Lavilla (Ducati) + 0.444; 3. Michael Rutter (HM Plant Honda Racing) + 1.298; 4. S. Emmett (Yamaha) + 7.055; 5. G. Richards (Kawasaki) + 8.896; 6. D. Thomas (Kawasaki) + 9.066; 7. L. Haslam (Ducati) + 9.188; 8. K. Harris (Honda-Racing.co.uk) + 10.392; 9. J. McWilliams (Honda) + 21.668; 10. S. Plater (Kawasaki) + 21.833


Fastest lap: G. Lavilla (Ducati) 1:15.577 (New lap record)



Championship points after two rounds: 1. Kiyonari – 100; 2. Lavilla – 72; 3. Rutter – 69; 4. Emmett – 46; 5. Richards – 43; 6. Harris – 38; 7. Haslam – 35; 8. Thomas – 31; 9. Smart – 17; 10=. Reynolds, Hill, McWilliams – 16