HONDA had a great time at the British Superbikes (BSB) meeting at Mallory Park at the weekend.

HM Plant Honda rider Ryuichi Kiyonari dominated the BSB round with two wins while his HM Plant Honda team-mate Josh Brookes from Bournemouth finished second ahead of Relentless by TAS Suzuki’s Michael Laverty.

Championship leader Tommy Hill finished eighth for the Verwood-based Worx Crescent Suzuki team to conclude a disappointing weekend at the Leicestershire circuit. Hill’s lead has now been slashed to just four points.

The Worx team came away from Mallory with just eight points in the bag after misfortune beset both Hill and Yukio Kagayama.

The day started well with both riders setting good times in warm-up and Kagayama particularly pleased with his revised bike set-up that took him to fifth-fastest time.

But, come the first race the problems came thick and fast. Hill was immediately in trouble as his bike gave all the indications of clutch slip, while Kagayama struggled to push through the pack from his fourth row start position.

However the race was red flagged after three laps following an incident allowing the team to replace the clutch in Hill's bike before the restart. Unfortunately the problem wasn't cured and Hill was forced to retire from the race.

Kagayama meanwhile had crashed out on lap two at Charlies chicane. He was bruised and quite shaken so the decision was taken that he stand down.

But back to the Honda racers and Southampton-based GNS Racing’s Sam Lowes put in another excellent ride in round five of the Fuchs-Silkolene British Supersport Championship as he finished second.

The 19-year-old pulled through the pack to take runner-up spot and the result moved him to joint top of the championship table.

Having qualified in a strong third, just 0.241sec off pole, Lowes made a solid start to lie in fifth place at the end of the first lap and moved up to fourth just two laps later.

On the seventh lap, the safety car came out due to debris on the track, allowing the pack to bunch up but when the safety car pulled in on lap ten, Sam didn’t wait long to make his move and, two laps later, moved into third place as he overhauled the Kawasaki of Ben Wilson.

The pace-setting Yamahas of Billy McConnell and James Westmoreland had opened up a small gap but Sam wasn’t going to settle for the position he was in and, slowly but surely, closed in on Westmoreland’s back wheel.

Then with three laps remaining, he moved up into second and promptly pulled away from Westmoreland to secure the position. After 25 hard laps in strong heat, Sam crossed the line just 2.033sec adrift of McConnell to secure 20 more points, which now sees him tied for the lead with Westmoreland.

There was double celebration for the team with Paul Jordan claiming second place in the Cup competition on the second GNS Honda.

The Ulsterman had qualified in an excellent 18th overall and by half race distance he was up into the championship points proper and he held on to 15th place to score a good championship point. However, more important were the 20 points meaning he’s now got his Cup title bid firmly back on track.

Lowes said: “I’m really happy with the podium and while you always want to win, second is a great result for the championship while it also means I’ve finished on the podium in every race I’ve finished.

“The bike’s absolutely flying and the team did a terrific job once more and they’ve worked tremendously hard again all weekend so a big thanks to them.”

Team boss Gary Stubbington added: “I’m very pleased for both of the riders. Sam worked exceptionally well all weekend and a podium was well deserved. This just shows that we, as a team, are growing in stature.”