Swan Yamaha rider Tommy Hill will miss today’s British Superbike races at Oulton Park after crashing out in morning warm-up.
The Lingfield rider had qualified on pole position after a commanding performance on Sunday, but will now be forced to watch from the sidelines.
The championship leader suffered the accident between Brittens and Hilltop following an earlier fall from Franch teenager Loris Baz.
Hill speculated after the accident that there may have been fluid in the circuit that caused the YZF-R1 to slide off the racetrack but the incident caused suspected ligament damage to his shoulder, ruling him out of this afternoon’s action.
After losing any chance of winning the title at the Cheshire circuit last year, this is the second crushing disappointment in as many visits for Hill, who is certain to lose the Championship lead this afternoon.
Looking further ahead, it is unsure as to how long Hill will be out of action, with the 26 year old admitting that similar injuries normally take 5-6 weeks to heal. Despite that, he hasn’t ruled out the possibility of returning to action at the next round at Croft in two weeks time.
Despite Hill’s disappointment, Swan Yamaha will still fancy their chances of victory this afternoon, with Michael Laverty now promoted to pole position for the first race of the day. John Hopkins, who was fastest in the curtailed warm-up session, will now start second.
Race one from Oulton Park will get underway at 13:00 BST, with the second race starting at 16:05 BST.
