Morello Racing Kawasaki resumed their 2017 Pirelli National Superstock 1000 Championship challenge at the weekend, Danny Buchan taking a majestic double at Knockhill to take over at the top of the points table.

The Burnham-on-Crouch rider dominated the free practice sessions and he duly converted his strong pace on the Kawasaki ZX-10R into pole position on Saturday morning, which set him up perfectly for the afternoon’s 18-lap race.

The 24-year old made the perfect start to lead into the first corner and from that moment on, he was never headed, eventually taking his fifth win of the season by over four seconds from Michael Rutter.

The slightly longer 24-lap race on Sunday was again held in good conditions and although Rutter led initially, Buchan moved up to first when he out-braked his rival going into the hairpin. However, unlike Saturday, it was a lot closer this time around and he was under pressure throughout from Chrissy Rouse.

Buchan had to make sure he didn’t make any mistakes and although he ran slightly wide at the hairpin towards the end, he took his second win of the weekend by three-quarters of a second and open up a 33-point lead in the Championship.

Buchan said: “I’m really happy and knew I had the pace for the races after going well in both free practice and qualifying. In the first race, I got to the front and concentrated on riding my own race.

“I just did my own thing and with the bike working really well, I focused on hitting all my braking markers and apexes to take a good win.

“With Richard going out, it was a bonus for the Championship but you never like to see a rider a go out with a technical issue, it’s better to fight it out on the track.”

“The second race was certainly a lot more difficult and for some reason I was a bit tense and not as comfortable on the bike as the day before. It made it hard work and fair play to Chrissy, he rode a great race so I just tried to control things as best I could. It doesn’t matter if you win by half a second or ten seconds and having been fastest in every session.

“To go to Snetterton with a 33-point lead is very pleasing.”

The next round at Snetterton, is between June 30-July 2.