CROWD favourite Leon Haslam saw his title lead slip away after crashing out of the first of two British Superbike races at Silverstone on Sunday.

At the start of the weekend, Haslam was leading the BSB championship by 15 points from Airwaves Ducati team-mate Gregorio Lavilla, with Honda's Ryuichi Kiyonari trailing in third by 11 points.

The Ducati team, sporting new black, white, and green colours to launch Airwaves' latest flavour of black mint chewing gum, were anticipating a good weekend after Lavilla and Haslam qualified first and second on the grid.

But Haslam's crash on lap seven gifted race one to Kiyonari, who won easily from Lavilla.

Lavilla overcame a slow start to finish second after a race-long dice with Jonathan Rea and Karl Harris. A disappointed Haslam walked back to the pits to admit: "I was pushing too hard. I was leading but I knew Kiyo was right behind and I over did it."

Race two saw Haslam take an early lead but his spare bike was down on power and he was overtaken first by Kiyonari and then by Lavilla.

Behind the front three, the excitement of the race was a three-way tussle between former BSB champion Shane Byrne, Rea, and Harris.

Byrne, on a Rizla Suzuki, grabbed fourth from Rea on the final chicane. Lavilla, with 377 points, now leads the title-chase from Kiyonari (376), with Haslam in third (368). The championship will be decided at Brands Hatch on October 1 where there will be double points.