Motor sport:Northern Ireland's Michael Laverty maintained his outside hopes of taking the British Superbike Championship with a third victory of the campaign in the first of the three races of the final round at Brands Hatch.
The Swan Yamaha rider held off the challenge of Josh Brookes, who started from pole position and shattered the outright lap record aboard his Relentless Suzuki.
Laverty’s third victory of the season lifts the Toomebridge rider to third place in the standings, though he is 35 points down on series leader John Hopkins with only 50 to play for.
American Hopkins and his nearest rival Tommy Hill set up a last-day showdown for the crown.
Riding the Samsung Suzuki, Hopkins held on to take third place by a split second and now leads Hill by 11 points going into Sunday’s decisive two races.
