Ryuichi Kiyonari maintained his domination of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship as he took a winning double in the second round at Thruxton.

The 22 year old Japanese rider has now won all four races this season with confident front-running performances.

His latest successes came despite the discomfort of a painful left ankle, the aftermath of a 140 miles an hour crash during qualifying, but it hardly slowed the HM Plant Honda rider.

By the fourth lap of the opener at the Hampshire circuit he had moved from fifth to have snatched the lead from Sean Emmett aboard the Virgin Mobile Samsung Yamaha and begin pulling clear of he pack.

Michael Rutter, aboard the second HM Plant Honda upped the power in his vain pursuit, closing in before having a scary moment on the fastest part of the course: “the front end tucked in, but I managed to hold on, and at that point decided to settle for what I had.”

Kiyonari took the victory by almost ten seconds but next time out had more of a fight, as Gregorio Lavilla, the 30 year old Spanish rider who is deputising aboard the Airwaves Ducati for the James Haydon, produced a brilliant slip-streaming ride that took him past Rutter and into a high speed duel for the lead.

Lavilla closed within half a second of Kiyonari, but the Honda rider held on to extend to six his unbeaten run which stretches back to the final round of last year.

“The races here were hard, my foot not a problem really on the bike, but very painful when I walk,” smiled Kiyonari while Rutter reflected: “he is bang on every lap – you cannot afford to give him anything or he is away from you.”

Jeremy McWilliams, the 41 year old Ulsterman who is back in domestic racing after a dozen years in grand prix, again had a tough time – he tumbled out of the opening race on the first lap at the chicane, but brought his Stobart Honda home in ninth place next time.

And, John Reynolds, the defending champion, continuing his damage limitation exercise as he rides his Rizla Suzuki with a broken right leg, had little to show for his efforts – he finished fourteenth in the opener but pulled out of the second at half distance.

The scrap for his title is now centring on Kiyonari. He leads the way with 100 points, with Lavilla on 72 and Rutter 69.

Victories in the British Superbike Cup went to James Buckingham and Steve Brogan, while Leon Camier took the victory in the Metabo British Supersport race, ahead of Stuart Easton and the championship leader Jay Vincent.

Adrian Coates won the National Superstock race, ahead of Lee Jackson, but third place for Andy Tinsley was enough to keep him ahead in the title stakes. Christian Elkin underlined his determination to retain the British 125cc crown with a hard earned victory over Kev Coghlan while Mark Pollock moved ahead in the Virgin Mobile Yamaha R6 Cup with victory over Adam Jenkinson.

HM Plant Honda Report

HM Plant Honda Racing’s Ryuichi Kiyonari won both races at Thruxton today to make it four consecutive wins on the HRC-prepared CBR1000RR Fireblade. The win gives Kiyonari a 28 points advantage in the 2005 Bennetts British Superbike Championship after just four races. Michael Rutter also had a fantastic day at the Hampshire circuit, finishing in second and third places respectively and moving into third in the points table.

The Japanese Superbike sensation didn’t make the best start to race one but soon made up for this with incredible progress through the pack in the early stages, passing Honda-Racing.co.uk’s Karl Harris, his team-mate Michael Rutter and Sean Emmett to take the lead by lap five. Once in the lead, the HM Plant Honda Racing rider didn’t look back, lapping consistently quicker than everyone else and crossing the finish line with almost ten seconds in hand. This was the fifth consecutive win on the factory-backed Fireblade for Kiyonari, which handed him a 22-point lead in the series after the first leg.

Michael Rutter, who had made a good start into second place behind Sean Emmett, was taken by surprise as Kiyonari passed him in the early stages. This gave the Leicestershire rider the wake-up call he needed and he set his sights on catching his Japanese team-mate. Rutter soon had the better of Sean Emmett but was unable (like the rest of the field) to make any ground on Kiyonari, so was forced to settle for second place and 20 points.

It was a great start to the second leg by both HM Plant Honda riders into first and second places respectively and they soon proceeded to pull away at the front – the only real challenge to the HRC-backed Hondas coming from ex-World Superbike rider Gregorio Lavilla.

The safety car came out on lap six when Tristan Palmer crashed heavily. This meant that all the riders soon bunched up behind Kiyonari, negating the advantage he had built up in the early stages. Once normal action resumed, the two factory Fireblade riders were split by Lavilla, who put up a real challenge to the Japanese rider’s dominance for the remainder of the 22-lap race. However, he was unable to pass the championship leader, who took yet another victory for the HM Plant Honda Racing team. Michael Rutter finished in third, collecting another 16 points towards his championship challenge.

Ryuichi Kiyonari: “That went well for me today. Once I had passed some of the other riders, I concentrated on making sure my lap times were consistently fast and that I was able to run comfortably at the front. I had to fight for the race two victory though. I got the start I wanted but when the safety car came out, I knew that I’d have a race on my hands. I also knew that my Michelin tyres would last the race distance, so all I had to do was keep Lavilla behind me. I made my mind up that I didn’t want to have to defend any overtaking manoeuvres, so I just went as fast as I could until I was sure of the victory.”

Michael Rutter: “I would have liked to have gone for the win in race one but – as at Brands Hatch a fortnight ago – Kiyo was unstoppable. Race two was even tougher so I’m happy to be on the podium again but I don’t know what I’m going to do about my team-mate! He’s injured and is still able to go out there and win races. Seriously though, it’s great for HM Plant Honda Racing and we couldn’t have hoped for a better start to the year.”

Harris Continues Good Form

Rizla Suzuki

Rizla Suzuki racer Scott Smart found extra performance from his GSX-R1000 during a tough day's racing at the second round of the British Superbike Championship at Thruxton.

Smart finished seventh in the opening race at the Hampshire circuit. He then altered the rear suspension settings on his Rizla Suzuki for the second race and despite pulling out on lap 13, came back to the pits upbeat that he has unlocked extra performance that will let him race at the front in the future.

British Superbike Champion John Reynolds took a battling 14th place finish in the first race. Still suffering from a broken right leg, JR was outside of the points and struggling against the bumpy nature of the track in the second race when his crew called him into the pits to retire rather than risking further injury.

Former Formula One commentator Murray Walker joined Rizla Suzuki at its home Thruxton circuit to lend his support to the team. He spoke highly of JR's bravery in racing at one of the fastest tracks in the UK. Honda's Ryuichi Kiyonari won both races.

Rizla Suzuki now goes to Oulton Park on Friday 15th April for an official BSB test before the Championship resumes with the third round at Mallory Park on April 24th. Channel Four will be showing highlights of today's racing next Sunday morning - featuring a competition to win a pillion ride with Rizla Suzuki at Mallory Park.

Scott Smart: "The Rizla Suzuki that I started the second race with was by far the best bike I have ever ridden. After the first race we made an alteration to my rear suspension that I instantly gelled with and knew was a big step forward for both the team and me.

"I started strongly in the second race with high hopes but was forced to pull out on lap 13. My team is looking into what caused the retirement and I am looking forward to Mallory Park with a lot of enthusiasm. We have made significant progress with the setting on my GSX-R1000 and I can't wait to race again."

John Reynolds: "Thank you to my crew for pulling me out of the second race when they did - I was suffering with my broken right leg and was well outside the points. Looking at the big picture, it was the correct decision as I was risking a lot for no reward.

"I will have a meeting with my doctor on Wednesday to assess my leg and see what else I can do to speed up my recovery. I feel as though I have been riding this weekend and not able to race because of my physical condition. My aim now is to be racing again as soon as possible."

Norris Farrow, Chief Technician to Scott Smart: "Today has been a tough day for Rizla Suzuki but the results do not reflect our true position. With the setting change made to Scott's bike for the second race, we have overcome the single biggest hurdle that was limiting his performance. Both Scott and the team go to Mallory Park in a positive mood.

"Thruxton is a circuit that punishes any injury and JR proved his bravery and determination by scoring points in the opening race. There is no way he was going to ever give-up in the second race, but as a team we made the decision to pull him out when it was clear he wasn't going to score points. He got the best result he could've today and is back with his doctor on Wednesday to further his recovery."

Rory Rock Report

I was looking forward to Thruxton as my times where good there last year and it is a track that not too many people get to do many laps on so my lack of track time is not a disadvantage. Things went really well all weekend and I ended up in 12th which has really helped my confidence and also netted me some points (and prize money!).

Friday practice was really cold and windy but I was able to get myself up to 14th which was OK but I was struggling to keep my bike driving out of the real fast turns here. It felt like it was tying itself in knots and then spinning up and nearly spitting me over the bars.

We made a change on Saturday which really helped but I should have done it after first practice on Friday as I already wanted to do it then but didn’t as I was short on time and am still on my own as far as things like this go.
Qualifying saw me end up in 17th, after been as high as 11th early on but I wasted a lot of time getting through traffic and that tore my tyre up a bit, still it’s a lot better than at Brands.

I changed to slightly taller gearing for Sunday as the wind had turned around a little and I thought it would help my speed on the straights. It worked pretty good but I got a bad start in the race and was in 18th on the first lap. I worked my way up into a huge fight for 10th through to 16th with all these riders separated by less than 2 seconds, there was plenty of out-braking into the last chicane. This was all holding me up and I felt like I could probably go a fair bit faster but my bike seems to be down on speed this year and it makes it pretty hard on such a fast track. I eventually ended up in 12th with a best lap of 1:19.9 which is a big improvement from round 1 and I am feeling confident now that I can run with these guys, I just have to get off the line a bit better and have some belief to make some changes to the bike as soon as I find problems. When I look at the people who finished in front of me I am on a shoestring budget in comparison but I think that if I can improve the shock settings a little then I will be able to go faster still.

Mallory Park is in two weeks and I did good there last year so I can’t wait till then, I’ll keep you posted.

Matt Kuhne Report

Matt Kuhne finished 13th in the British 125 GP Championship at Round 2 at Thruxton. Matt disappointed after qualifying back in 20th place had problems at the start dropping back to dead last place. Matt managed to get back up to 30th place after lap 1 and continued to pass riders to get back to 13th place after the red flag finished the race 2 laps short of full race distance.

Matt said: "The bike just bogged off the start and I had to pull to the side of the track to avoid being hit. After all the bikes passed by I managed to get going and pushed hard to get back as many places as I could. I am so disappointed because the team worked so hard to get the bike running so well for the race. We had problems with performance on Friday and Saturday but by this mornings warm up we managed to be 10th fastest in the 10 minute session and I was over a second quicker than my qualifying time. In the race I was able to again improve my lap time by over another second with a lap time that would have qualified me on the front row. I just have to get up to speed on these new circuits quicker so I can qualify better for the race."

Notes on other Aussies

Glen Richards took 9th and 5th place finish in Superbike and sites in 5th overall on the championship table between Sean Emmett and Karl Harris.  Dean Thomas took 8th and 6th to now sit just behind Leon Haslam on the points table in 8th position.  Paul Young came home 11th in the Supersport race which was won by Leon Camier

Billy McConnell took 5th place in the Virgin Yamaha R6 Cup while Brendan Roberts set the fastest lap of the race on his way to a 7th place finish.  McConnell is now 4th in the points and Roberts lies 10th.

David Johnson unfortunately failed to finish the 1,000cc Superstock race but did record lap times good enough for a top ten result.