Bayliss wins British Superbike Championship
Young wins British Superbike Privateer Cup

A great weekend for our boys in England, Troy Bayliss and Paul Young, with Bayliss taking out the top prize while Young took out the Championship for privateers, an achievement that is not to be under-estimated.  Marty Craggill lost a place to Niall Mackenzie to end up 8th in the championship.  Here are the final points standings.

1.  Troy Bayliss (AUS) 394
2.  Chris Walker 366
3.  John Reynolds 357
4.  Neil Hodgson 301
5.  James Haydon 289
6.  Sean Emmett 286
7.  Niall Mackenzie 210
8.  Marty Craggill (AUS) 200
9.  Steve Hislop 173
10.Paul Young (AUS) 123
Race Two
This race was split into two legs as the race was red-flagged on lap 6 after an oil-down had sent a couple of riders into the dirt.

On the first start Bayliss got the jump at the start, but was passed by Walker and Hislop before the end of lap one.

Reynolds passed Bayliss on Lap five, but shortly after the red-flag came out and the riders were sent back to the grid for a thirteen lap second leg of the race.

At the restart Hodgson broke away from the pack while championship leaders, Bayliss, Walker and Reynolds battled for second place.   Bayliss only had to finish in the top five in order to seal the championship, so he let Walker and Reynolds fight it out between themselves. 

This turned out to be a great decision as on the final lap Reynolds tried to out-brake Walker and stick it up the inside of him, this maneuver ended up with both of them ending up in the dirt.  Both men were up quickly trying to start their bikes, whoever crossed the line first out of Walker and Reynolds would end up with second place in the championship.  Walker found the Kawasaki easier to start than Reynolds did his Ducati, as a result Walker crossed the line

Paul Young took out the Privateer Cup by taking it easy to finish third out of the privateers in the race, thereby winning the cup.  A great relief I am sure after a disastrous last third of the season for Young. 

Final Race placings were, in order ; Hodgson, Bayliss, Emmett, Craggill, Hislop, Byrne, Mackenzie, Haydon, Giles.

Race One

The race was declared wet at the last minute forcing everyone back to the pit's to put on some wet tyres, funnily enough though as soon as the riders had started the race on wets, the rain stopped and the track started drying out.

Walker got away at the start and was pulling time on the field when on Lap five the pace car had to come out due to Emmett and Hodgson having a coming together.  Two laps were led by the pace car before the race was on again with Walker breaking away again.

Bayliss was in fourth on lap eight, while Mackenzie was on a hard charger to try and chase down race leader, Walker, he nearly got there though and passed the flag only 3 tenths behind Walker.  The placings in order after the first two  were Reynolds, Hislop, Byrne and Bayliss in sixth.

DONINGTON PARK PREVIEW

Troy Bayliss goes into this final round of the British Superbike Championship with a 23 point lead. As the British rounds are conducted along the lines of the World Superbike Championship, that is two races per round, it only takes one DNF for Bayliss to allow his two fellow championship contenders to gain the edge on him. But of course, the same goes for them, if they fall their chances are shortened considerably.

Let’s just hope that Troy is no taken out by another rider’s error as happened last time he raced at Donington, when he was speared by Steve Hislop.

Paul young, leader of the privateer cup, has a 12 point lead on Dave heal, and a 14 point gap on his other rapidly closing rival, Phil Giles.

If all goes well we could have an Aussie as British Superbike Champion and another Aussie as top privateer. Fingers crossed.

1.  Troy Bayliss (AUS) 364
2.  John Reynolds 341
3.  Chris Walker 335
4.  Neil Hodgson 276
5.  James Haydon 272
6.  Sean Emmett 270
7.  Marty Craggill (AUS) 181
8.  Niall Mackenzie 179
9.  Steve Hislop 149
10.Paul Young (AUS) 111
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