A little controversy early on saw a frustrated Shakey Byrne overoptimistically try to push up the inside of Karl Harris at Shell Oils hairpin. The inevitable happened, given Harris's recent luck - he fell off, Shakey didn't. Words, some of them rather rude for daytime TV, were duly exchanged between Big Rob McElnea and Smilin' Colin Wright - thought Rob was building up to smack him one for a minute... Race Control eventually labelled it a racing incident, although a similarly unreasonable move at Oulton last time saw Haslam disqualified from the results. Still, probably no favouritism to the series leader and Ducati rider there! Justice of a sort saw Shakey score his lowest result of the year. Third, that is. He was gutted, apparently.

Rather more justice saw the ever-happy Tom Sykes get his first ever BSB victory and well-deserved it was too. The boys in the Rizla Suzuki garage looked pretty pleased about it all, which was nothing compared to how they looked when he took the double on a worn-out rear tyre that looked to have all the grip of a 1980s Conti Blitz. Good on the lad!

Ellison put in an impressive pair of races (2nd & 5th) on the second-string Hydrex Honda, with Haslam and Crutchlow also up there on the leaderboard. In race 2, in fact, it was only Crutchlow's last lap dicing with Shakey - to eventually take 2nd - that gave Sykes enough of a gap to stay in front.

A good day, all in all, with Richards pedalling the Supersport Triumph around to another victory.

Shakey, like Bayliss, isn't going to be touched for the championship, but the usual suspects are still (just about) in contention to sort out second place. And Camier, injured but in 5th, should be back for Knockhill, so all four of them in with a shout should be hard at it.

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Sykes kicked off with his third win in a row, ahead of Shakey and the ever-improving James Ellison. A bad race for HM Plant Honda, though, with both Crutchlow and Haslam binning it early on in proceedings.

Supersport was rained off at lap 23, with Ian Lowry taking a deserved victory. Richards in third extended his lead in the championship to amore comfortable 30 points over Kennaugh.

BSB race 2 was also red-flagged, this time for Shakey having a monster crash on lap 14, nding up bruised but fortunately not broken. That gave Haslam with his first season win, Rutter and - finally, with a little luck going his way - Harris. An unusual and quite welcome set of podiums, but once again Shakey upped his now largely academic points lead.

Cadwell this weekend - awesome track. Let's hope for a little less weather, though.

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Karl Harris, inevitably, was one of them: appearing after race one to show off his mangled, gory finger to a rather nauseous-looking Tony Carter. He went on to race in the second, though, if any proof were needed that the bloke is hard as nails.

Haslam seems to have been re-chipped at Suzuka. Instead of falling off every time Shakey got within quarter of a mile of him, he chased down a hard-charging Sykes in both races to pull off his first double in some considerable time. Sykes with a brace of seconds took second in he championship, abetted by Crutchlow crashing after levering his own wheels off the ground by getting the engine-cases down. Shakey got two thirds, enough to stretch his championship lead again.

Out in the Supersports field, nice to see Plater celebrate his 40th birthday with a win and a chirpy podium interview. Richards came in behind him and well ahead of Kennaugh, so it's looking game on to see a Triumph take the title. Wonders will never cease...

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Camier, having been quiet all year, suddenly woke up and stormed through the field to a race 1 victory. It looked inevitable from quite early on, despite a less than perfect start, but his Airwaves Ducati was just about the most stable thing out there. Shakey came in way off the podium (well, 5th), which was completed by Haslam and Sykes, both of whom are well on form at the moment.

Race 2 was altogether closer-fought, with most teams seeming to find a little extra traction and steadiness between the races. Haslam, continuing his recent streak of wins, took the honours, with Sykes again second and Crutchlow back on the podium. Nice to see the youngsters doing so well, really.

Double whammy for Shakey, though - he could've wrapped up the championship this weekend but fell a little short of the points needed. Possibly a little under the weather after a big qualifying crash. More possibly, a little upset by the news that Haga is getting Bayliss' Xerox Ducati ride next year - a place Shakey was rather hoping to occupy.

Also confirmed - Sykes is taking Haga's Yamaha ride in WSB for next year. Good on the lad.

Richards in Superstock won again, in a well-judged two-parter after a red flag for a big crash. 47 points clear at the top, with two races to go - barring a miracle, Triumph will get their championship this year.

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Supersport saw Glen Richards potter round in 4th: Kennaugh's win wasn't good enough to close the points gap - so Triumph take the British Supersport championship. There's a surprise, looking at the form at the start of the year, but well-deserved for Glen and the team.

Final round was Brands Indy circuit on Sunday, well-attended and a beautiful day. The Indy's an odd circuit - fast, furious and always on the lean, but very difficult to pass. Unlike, say, Knockhill or Mallory, it quite often seems to lead to big separation between riders: maybe it's simply because the edges of the tyres go off so much quicker.

Anyhow, free from the stress of having to think about the title, Shakey set out for a double win and achieved it quite easily, in the end. Haslam, having dislocated his shoulder in a huge practice highside, had to race to defend his second place in the championship and produced a brave couple of second places. Camier and Crutchlow took a third place apiece. Camier will be staying with BSB next year, the other three are all off to WSB.

Richards similarly celebrated his title victory by winning just ahead of a dedicated Steve Plater in what was probably the best dice of the day.

All in all, a good season's racing - now let's see it back on Terrestrial TV for next year!

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