The two third round races at the 2.3-mile Hampshire circuit were won by James Haydon and Neil Hodgson with both 20-lappers subject to red flags. The first race was run over two parts after Byrne (VTR SP1)  crashed heavily at the chicane on lap six, suffering two suspected cracked vertebrae. The second was stopped seven laps early for rain.

Emmett’s set-up problems in the limited practice and qualifying time on Sunday restricted him to nineteenth place on the grid but the Surrey rider made up several places in both outings, finishing eleventh and thirteenth.

"With my grid position, the races were always going to be a struggle," said the 30-year-old. "The new surface at Thruxton tore into the tyres and that gave us some problems. But I was running consistently two seconds quicker than my qualifying time so we are making progress, albeit with some frustration."

Byrne will stay overnight in hospital in nearby Winchester and is expected to see a back specialist tomorrow. Team manager Lester Harris said: "Shane will be in a lot of discomfort for a while but he’s pretty chirpy and we’re hoping that he’ll be fit for Oulton Park."

"As far as the new VTR is concerned," continued Harris, "I’m very encouraged. Shane was running just behind the leading pack in race one and posting some vastly improved lap times, as did Sean in both races. We’ve got a month until the next round when I’m sure the bike will be stronger still."

Results (Thruxton – 2.356-miles, 20 laps)
Race one: 1 James Haydon (Ducati) 25m46.499s, 2 Chris Walker (Suzuki) +1.721s, 3 Neil Hodgson (Ducati) +2.087, 4 John Reynolds (Ducati) +3.027, 5 Steve Hislop (Yamaha) +3.682, 6 Steve Plater (Kawasaki) +17.088, 7 Niall Mackenzie, 8 John Crawford, 9 Peter Goddard, 10 Paul Young

Race two (13 laps): 1 Hodgson 16m42.666s, 2 Hislop +0.331, 3 Reynolds +0.774, 4 Haydon +1.985, 5 Walker +2.080, 6 Paul Brown (Yamaha) +1 lap, 7 Steve Plater +1 lap, 8 Peter Goddard +1 lap

Championship points after three of 12 rounds: Reynolds 112, Hodgson 106, Haydon 90, Walker 87, Hislop 80, Plater 47, Emmett 30, Byrne 23.

Next round - Oulton Park, 21 May

Castrol Honda’s Kirk McCarthy took his second British Supersport victory from three starts at Thruxton today, maintaining his team’s one hundred per cent winning record in this year’s championship. Chris Vermeulen, on another Honda, was second in the 20-lap race with McCarthy’s team-mate, Jim Moodie, winner of the last round at Donington, third.

McCarthy, who had not seen the 2.3-mile Hampshire circuit before last Wednesday, started the race from fourth place on the grid and took the lead from Moodie going into Thruxton’s Club chicane at the end of the first lap.

Although Moodie took the lead on lap 13, McCarthy assumed control one lap later and crossed the line just two tenths of a second ahead of Vermeulen, with Moodie close behind.

McCarthy, 30, commented: "I wanted to get to the front early on but I knew the others wouldn’t be far behind. I tried to take it a bit steady because there were a few drops of rain out there. It wasn’t too slippery but it’s a fast track."

Moodie, who led the series coming to Thruxton, had praise for the Castrol Honda team and his CBR600 machine: "The team’s working really well this season," said the 34-year-old from Hamilton, "and the bike’s feeling really strong. Three wins from three races and the top two championship positions is a pretty good start to the season."

Results (Thruxton – 2.356 miles, 20 laps): 1 Kirk McCarthy (Castrol Honda) 26m56.022s, 2 Chris Vermeulen (Honda) +0.188s, 3 Jim Moodie (Castrol Honda) +0.364, 4 Glen Richards (Honda) +1.063, 5 Dean Thomas (Ducati) +3.602, 6 Scott Smart (Ducati) +10.929, 7 Warwick Nowland (Honda) +11.402, 8 Danny Beaumont (Yamaha) +22.563, 9 Jamie Morley (Suzuki) +26.170, 10 Gary Mason (Kawasaki) +26.271.

Championship points after three of 12 rounds: McCarthy 61, Moodie 57, Vermeulen 43, Richards 42, Thomas 40, Howard Whitby (Honda) 29, Morley 21, Nowland 17, Smart 16, Stuart Wickens (Yamaha) 15.

Next round: Oulton Park, 21 May

Sanyo First National riders, Chris Vermeulen and Glen Richards, took their Honda CBR FireBlades to a spectacular one-two finish in the third round of the British Superstock championship at Thruxton yesterday. Yamaha's Matt Llewellyn was third.

The 18-lap race around the 2.3-mile Hampshire circuit was stopped after only three laps when Harris Honda rider, Rhys Boyd, crashed heavily, fracturing his elbow. From the full restart pole position man, Vermeulen, closely shadowed early leader Matt Llewellyn until lap five.

Despite having never visited Thruxton before, the young Australian then rode around the outside of Llewellyn at Church corner – one of the fastest corners in British championship racing – at more than 130mph. For the remaining 13 laps, Vermeulen extended his lead, eventually winning by an eleven second margin.

"We had some tyre problems all weekend," said the 17-year-old from Yandina in Queensland, "but we chose the right one for the race and it worked really well." As for his move on Llewellyn, he commented: "Matt had been holding me up for a while and I just managed to get the bike right on the spot for that corner. It was pretty quick but it’s a fast circuit generally. I like it here!"

Richards spent the early part of the race held up behind Llewellyn’s team-mate, David Jefferies, finally passing him into Thruxton’s chicane at half-distance. The 26-year-old from Adelaide then rode impressively to chase down Llewellyn, passing him at the same place on the final lap.

"After I got past Jefferies I had some grip problems," explained Richards. "I had a couple of big slides chasing Llewellyn but I knew Chris had gone. It was good for the team to get first and second though – the bike is running real good."

Results (Thruxton – 2.356 miles, 18 laps): 1 Chris Vermeulen (Honda) 24m03.350s, 2 Glen Richards (Honda) +11.149s, 3 Matt Llewllyn (Yamaha) +11.498, 4 David Jefferies (Yamaha) +15.946, 5 Woolsey Coulter (Aprilia) +32.808, 6 Rob Frost (Yamaha) +32.973, 7 Andy Tinsley (Honda) +33.622, 8 Iain Duffus (Honda) +35.609, 9 Gus Scott (Yamaha) +35.742, 10 Ron Haslam (Honda) +40.345.

Championship points after three of 12 rounds: Llewellyn 66, Jefferies 49, Richards 40, Vermeulen 38, Tinsley 28, Dave Johnson (Yamaha) 24, Steve Brogan (Honda) 23, Duffus 23, Frost 21, Haslam 18.

The nineteen-year-old from Kiveton Park near Sheffield has managed to score points in all four races to date and currently lies in seventh place in the standings aboard the all-new Honda VTR SP1 Superbike. He is also the top Honda rider in the Championship presently.

But whilst Toseland is happy to keep racking up the points, he wants to start climbing the leaderboard now that he is getting to grips with the 1000cc twin cylinder machine.

"I've gone from eleventh place in the opening race to seventh place last time out so we're making some good progress with the machine. Thruxton will be better than Brands Hatch and Donington for the bike because there are not many slow corners which is where we're losing out with the power delivery and mid range" said the former World Supersport rider.

Neil Hodgson raced at Thruxton last year for the first time on a Superbike and still managed to finish fourth and fifth at the 2.3 mile Hampshire circuit, despite not having ridden there since his 125cc days: "Thruxton is without doubt the fastest circuit on the British calendar," says Hodgson, "and I'm really looking forward to the challenge. There isn't a great deal of time to set the bike up, but the advantage of riding for the same team again means that we already have last year's settings which will help us to get the suspension dialled in quickly.

"We already have a good chassis and suspension setting on this year's INS Ducati and made significant progress at Donington Park. I'm also making sure that my fitness is beyond question and have been training hard in between rounds on my motocross bike. I'm feeling really positive about my performances so far this year and am not falling into the trap of thinking too far ahead and putting too much pressure on myself at this early stage. I'm enjoying my racing and can't wait to get to Thruxton."

Hodgson's teammate, Niall Mackenzie is relishing the chance of returning to Thruxton. He is the lap record holder (1:17.585) at the circuit and is confident about his chances this weekend: "I love Thruxton and believe I'm one of the few riders that actually enjoy coming here. I won here in '96, '97 and '98 and actually did the double in '97 and '98, so history is on my side!

"I believe that the circuit has also been resurfaced, and that should iron out a few of the bumps that can catch riders out. Although it's my first time here with GSE Racing, I know that the high speed and long straights will favour the INS Ducati. Even though we haven't tested at Thruxton, we have the base settings from '99 so I think that we will have a good starting point. It's important for me to ride the Ducati as often as possible, so the test session we have lined up at Donington on Wednesday evening will help in my preparations for the two races on Easter Monday."

Whilst Toseland will be hoping to continue his good run of results, the team's 250cc rider JOHN McGUINNESS will be hoping for better fortune than he experienced at Donington two weeks ago.

The Morecambe, Lancashire rider celebrated his 26^th birthday last week and will be looking to get the defence of his 250cc British title back on course after gearbox problems caused him to slide off on lap two.

"It was a strange feeling and very disappointing not to finish at Donington but we need to put that behind us and concentrate on winning at Thruxton" said McGuinness who, prior to Donington, last failed to finish a British Championship race in July 1998!

John currently lies in sixth place in the standings, just thirteen points down on the joint series leaders but with many of his championship rivals not scoring last time also, he considers himself fortunate not to be further down the order.

Scottish teenager STUART EASTON bounced back from his Brands Hatch crash in the opening round to score a fine sixth place at Donington after a race long battle with more experienced riders aboard his 125cc Vimto Honda. He now lies thirteenth in the series.

"Some of them were trying to rough me up a bit but I can handle that. Thruxton should suit me and the bike better and I'm really looking forward to it" said the sixteen-year-old from Hawick.

Team Owner PAUL BIRD is hoping to break his Thruxton jinx over the Bank Holiday.

"It's a circuit I've never won at so hopefully we can change that this weekend." said Bird.

Peter Goddard will be looking for some better performances than he has been getting lately but the fast circuit should suit Peter.

Our Aussie SuperSport riders will be right up the front as usual no doubt.

Castrol Honda riders, Jim Moodie and Kirk McCarthy, are looking to maintain the team’s 100% winning record in the third round of the British Supersport Championship at Thruxton this Easter weekend.

Moodie and McCarthy have taken a race win each in the two rounds to date with Moodie heading the points table. His third place finish at the Brands Hatch opener gives him the edge over his team-mate, who rode from the back of the field to fifth place at Donington Park two weeks ago.

The 2.3-mile Thruxton circuit near Andover in Hampshire has been resurfaced since Moodie finished second in the corresponding round last year and he is anticipating a fast race.

"It’s smoother in a lot of places and, if it stays dry, it will be a lot more grippy," said the 34-year-old Glaswegian. "It’s the same surface as at Brands Hatch and Snetterton but with the extra grip comes extra tyre wear."

Like many UK circuits, Thruxton is new to McCarthy, who has joined the Castrol Honda British Supersport squad after contesting several rounds of the 1998 World Supersport series.

"We did a few laps in a car yesterday to find out which way it goes," said the 30-year-old Australian from Mickleham, Victoria. "It looks wide and fast but car lines are completely different to those on a bike so I won’t really know ‘til I get out there.

McCarthy, whose victory in the first round at Brands Hatch was his first race win for five years, added: "I’m not assuming anything or making any predictions. I’m just really enjoying my racing with this team and that’s what I’m going to do this weekend."

Because of noise restrictions at Thruxton, there will be just 20 minutes of free practice on Sunday before the first of two, 25-minute qualifying sessions. The 20-lap, third round British Supersport race is scheduled to get underway at 3.00pm on Easter Monday.

Race Results will hopefully be up on Tuesday.