SuperBike

MonsterMob Ducati rider Steve Hislop recorded the first ever double win of his career when he romped to a pair of magnificent victories at rounds seven and eight of the British Superbike Championship at a sun-drenched Oulton Park today.

In front of a bumper crowd including over 100 guests of the Paul Bird Motorsport Team, the 38 year old Scot overcame an overheating engine in race one and a concerted challenge from John Reynolds in the second race to close the gap at the head of the championship to just 17 points. 

After setting fastest times in all practice and qualifying sessions - including Superpole - Hizzy continued his domination by controlling the opening race from the front and opening up a huge lead before easing off when the bike's temperature gauge started creeping up with seven laps to go as he explained: "I was comfortable enough but then got a couple of slides on left handers and thought something was wrong. I saw that the bike was running way too hot and thought some fluid may have got onto the tyre so I eased it off. In the end I knew John was struggling to catch me and had it under control" said the delighted Hislop after the race.

With no time to trace the problem before race two, Hislop had to resort to his spare 996cc machine for the second outing but once again, he came up trumps despite a race long challenge from championship rival John Reynolds aboard another Ducati. But Hislop upped the pace with four laps to go to break the Englishman's challenge: "The bike ran great and if anything, the chassis was better than the number one bike. I could see my times on my pit board and knew if I upped the pace I could ease away from John which I did after I'd preserved my tyres long enough. It was a tough race and he admitted afterwards I wore him out - just wait till I'm 100% fit!" enthused Hislop.

Championship positions, Round 4/13: 1 John Reynolds 185, Steve Hislop 168, James Haydon 105, John Crawford 90

SuperSport

Matt Llewellyn had an eventful Oulton Park outing in the British Supersport 600 class, after starting the weekend in provisional second place on the grid on his V&M Racing R6 Yamaha. But in the Superpole session to decide the final grid position for Sunday's race, his machine spluttered to a halt with a fuel blockage on the opening lap, relegating him to twelfth position on the starting grid

In the race the Leicester rider had amazingly worked his way through the field into fifth place, when his machine started to overheat and lose power, before he eventually brought his Yamaha home in seventh place at the flag.

"I was riding as hard as I could but the temperature gauge started going up as the race progressed. I could reel them in round the corners but they would just pull away again on the straights. I just had to settle for picking up as many points as I could," said Llewellyn whose nine points at Oulton Park keeps his title hopes alive, and maintains his second place in the championship standings, with nine rounds remaining.

Despite not making it on to the podium in the Supersport race, the V&M Racing Team still managed to get a foot onto the podium and gain some valuable publicity from the victory celebrations. Paul Nagel, European accounts manager for one of V&M Racing's main sponsors Whirlpool Home Appliances, was invited to hand out the trophies.

Result - 1. Paul Young (Suzuki); 2. Kirk McCarthy (Honda); 3. Karl Harris (Suzuki); 4. Scott Smart (Suzuki); 5. Rob Frost (Yamaha); 6. John McGuinness (Honda); 7. Matt Llewellyn (V&M Yamaha); 8. Gary Mason (Honda); 9. Luke Quigley (Suzuki); 10. Richard Norris (Yamaha).

Championship -  1. Kirk McCarthy 90; 2. Matt Llewellyn 67; 3. John McGuinness 56; 4. Paul Young 45; 5. Scott Smart 44; 6. Karl Harris 42; 7. Rob Frost 37; 8. Luke Quigley 28; 9. Gary Mason 23; 10. Glen Richards 19.

SuperStock

A delighted David Jefferies broke the Suzuki domination of the British Superstock championship with his first podium visit of the season at Oulton Park, on Sunday 13 May.

The reigning British champion followed up a fine second place qualifying position with a brilliant second place in the fourth round of the series, to bring his V&M Racing R1 Yamaha back into contention in this highly competitive class. The result moves the Yorkshireman up into second place in the 2001 championship chase and signaled a renewed challenge from the V&M team for honours.

"I was pleased with my practice performance and even happier to bring the bike home in second place in the race. After the wide open spaces and long straights of Silverstone and Snetterton, it's great to get back onto a circuit with corners," said Jefferies. "I was beginning to forget what champagne tasted like," he added, as he sprayed one of V&M Racing's main sponsors, Gary Dawson - Dawsons Fibrous Plasterers, who lingered too long on the podium after presenting the winners trophies.

For teammate Iain Duffus it was a weekend to forget, as he struggled during qualifying with front suspension problems on his V&M Racing R1 Yamaha. A change of forks before Sunday's race rectified his handling problems, but lady luck failed to smile on the unfortunate Scotsman, when he crashed out of the running in the early part of the race.

"I got held up on the start line when a rider in front of me was slow off the line, and then I just about rammed another rider going into the first turn. I was trying to make up some ground, when I got clipped going into Cascades corner, and the next thing I knew I was tumbling across the grass," said Duffus as he nursed a giant headache in his motorhome after the race.

Result - 1. Paul Young (Suzuki); 2. David Jefferies (V&M Yamaha); 3. Howard Whitby (Suzuki); 4. Chris Burns (Suzuki); 5. Dave Heal (Suzuki); 6. Ronnie Smith (Suzuki); 7. John Crockford (Suzuki); 8. Steve Allan (Suzuki); 9. Gus Scott (Suzuki); 10. Chris Miller (Yamaha).

Championship - 1. Paul Young 100pts; 2. David Jefferies 46; 3. Jamie Morley 46; 4. Chris Burns 46; 5. Gary Mason 38; 6. Kim Ashkenazi 31; 7. Howard Whitby 30; 8. Gus Scott 26; 9. Glen Richards 20; 10. John Crockford 20; 16. Iain Duffus 12.