JON Kirkham celebrated his maiden victory in the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship in a weather affected opening race of the third round at the Croft circuit in North Yorkshire.

Rain delayed the start of the race and that left riders with a gamble on tyre selection with the former two times title winner Shane Byrne opting to start from the pole position on slicks and he was heading the action until his HM Plant Honda blew its engine on the eighth lap.

That brought the Nissan GTR Safety Car out as officials checked for any oil spillage and the pack bunched with John Hopkins riding the Samsung Crescent Suzuki leading from Gary Mason on the MSS Colchester Kawasaki and Kirkham who had moved through to be in contention despite starting from the fourth row of the grid.

Kirkham was on the ascendancy picking off Mason within three laps of the race resuming and then stunning his team-mate former MotoGP rider Hopkins by charging into the lead with seven laps remaining and powering to a clear victory by almost three seconds.

Kirkham, the reigning National Superstock champion, reflected: "I can hardly believe that I've done it as that was the scariest race of my life with the changing conditions but what a race. I was lucky to be fair with the pace car coming out as it gave me the chance to close the gap up and it was pretty loose out there.

"I had a few moments and my team-mate John was riding amazingly, pushing me all the way. This is a fantastic result for me and the whole team," added Kirkham.

Hopkins ran second to move ahead in the title stakes while Mason took his first podium finish ahead of Motorpoint Yamaha rider Loris Baz and Mirror.co.uk BSB-EVO class winner Alex Lowes aboard the WFR Honda.

Kirkham started the second race from pole, the reward for his earlier heroics only for his hopes of completing the daily double to come to an end on the first lap as he went down in a tangle with Swan Yamaha rider Michael Laverty.

Byrne took charge of the race on the second lap after seeing off the threat of Mason and then led throughout to take his second victory of the campaign by almost two seconds from MSS Colchester Kawasaki rider Stuart Easton. Hopkins had to settle for third, relinquishing his lead in the series to Byrne 95-92 points.

Josh Brookes took fourth ahead of Baz and Tommy Hill who had battled through the pain of his injured shoulder, while in the BSB-EVO class Lowes completed the daily double ahead of his team-mate Glen Richards.