John Hopkins's immaculate start to his British Superbike Championship career hit a stumb💛ling block at Kno🐠ckhill after he suffered his first retirement of the season, though a podium in race one keeps him well in the title hunt.

Though Hopkins does have has a non-score to his name after ඣfalling in his first race at Brands Hatch, Hopkins has finished no lower than the top five since.

Continuing his g🐬ood run with a fine second place finish in race one, it marked the Samsung Crescent Suzuki riderꦬ's sixth podium of the year.

"Race one went well. I'm glad I had that test session here 11 days ago as the knowledge I gained from that certainly helped. I was riding too tight at the beginning to be able toꦐ match Tommy Hill, but as the race progressed I understood the track better and so was able to defend my position against Shane Byrne.

However, rear grip issues would contribute to his retirement in race two, the American coming down hard at Duffers' Di♊p, though he was lucky not to be collected directly by the c💟hasing field.

"Right from the start of race two I was struggling with an issue that seriously compromised rear grip. This led me to crash when the bike wouldn't slow coming into t♓urn two. As I went down I hit my elbow and shoulder on the kerb and so I'm pretty sore, but I should be okay with some rest."

Nonetheless, Hopkins remains well in the hunt for the upcoming 'Showdown', 🐻pulling 62 points clear of theღ top six battle.

"Fortunately we're still where we want to be: in the top six, still in second place. And importantly we racked up more podiu🦩m credits, wh🌜ich are going to be vital come the Showdown. The bike itself was excellent today and I'm sure we'll be battling for podiums again come Snetterton in two weeks time."