TOMMY Hill is planning to ride through the pain barrier as Swan Yamaha head to Croft for their home round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship.

Hill had set the pace in qualifying at Oulton Park last time out, however ligament damage following a crash in warm-up brought an early end to his weekend.

Since then he has been doing everything possible to regain fitness, and is hopeful his dedication will pay off as he embarks on what will be a damage limitation exercise against his title rivals.

"I have been on the mend since Oulton Park and doing everything I can to get back racing the Swan Yamaha, said Hill, currently fifth in the standings. "I have had laser treatment, magnotherapy and visited an oxygen chamber to basically do as much as I can.

"I have good movement in the shoulder and I have set myself the target of coming back this weekend at Croft as I want to get back on the podium for the Swan Yamaha team as soon as possible.

"I have been resting up and I have some more treatment planned before the weekend, so we will have to see what happens. I just need to concentrate on getting out there and scoring as many points as I can for the championship."

Hill's team-mate Michael Laverty, sixth in the championship, scored a pair of fifth places at Oulton Park, but proved his pace by leading both races.

"It is good to be back out again so quickly after the last round as I haven't finished on the podium yet and I feel that I need to put that right; especially after running so strong in all four races so far," said Laverty.

"I know that we can win and I just need to go out and prove that at the weekend."