Ryuichi Kiyonari and Gregorio Lavilla took the victories in a dramatic double race sixth round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Croft where the series leader Michael Rutter took a pair of second placings to maintain his grip on the crown.

Rutter, riding the HM Plant Honda, made good use of his pole start, charging clear, although Kiyonari was never far adrift, and when the leader missed a gear on the sixth lap at the hairpin, the 22 year old Japanese rider was through to take his sixth victory of the campaign as light rain fell.

“Very hard,” smiled Kiyonari. “Very scary when wet here – hard to get ahead of Michael but then he made little mistake.”

Rutter, characteristically honest summed it up: “I messed up –I’m disappointed to not win, but pleased with the points. I couldn’t catch Kiyo in the conditions so decided to settle for a good finish and strong points.”

Lavilla took third place in that race and then made the most of a re-started second race – heavy rain brought out the red flags after nine laps with Kiyonari leading from Rutter while the Spanish rider was back in sixth place.

On the restart, Lavilla made the early move, but then Glen Richards joined the front running scrap before Kiyonari nosed in front.

Then at the hairpin, Lavilla, sliding as he braked on the damp track barged his way ahead, and held on to take his second victory, while on the final lap Rutter edged ahead of Kiyonari.

“At least I’ve beaten Kiyo,” smiled Rutter. “It was a case of keeping the bike upright, and overall I have only lost one point on the day to Lavilla – good for the championship, but I hope the next race is either wet or dry. These conditions are a bit of a lottery, but it was still a good race.”

Kiyonari agreed: “very difficult race,” while Lavilla was delighted: “Everyone fighting for position, passing people, very good.”

Rutter leads Lavilla by 45 points in the championship, with Kiyonari a further eight points down, but there were no happy returns for defending champion John Reynolds on the Rizla Suzuki – he went down in the opening race and finished twelfth in the second.

Aussies also figured very strong in the other classes with Paul Young taking victory in the 1,000cc Superstock encounter and countryman David Johnson also joining him on the podium with a great third place.

Billy McConnell taking the win in the R6 Cup with David Anthony also on that podium.

Dean Thomas

"It's been a mixed day today as far as the results and weather were concerned, however, I have still managed to up a position in the overall Championship standings. I got a 10th and 6th in the two races, which I'm not over the moon about but I guess for this weekend it will have to do and it's a big improvement on Mondello.

"I had a disaster in the first race as after about 7 laps I started suffering with severe arm pump and I just lost all grip and feeling with the bike. I slowly slipped back through the field and there was nothing that I could do about it. I was disappointed with the first race result and it was nothing to do with the bike, it was just me I was really struggling.

"I got a much better start in the second race and was running up the front until the rain started to come down. They red flagged it and I was lying in a comfortable 4th place at the time so I wasn't very happy. The rain didn't become very heavy and the majority of the field remained on slick tyres.

"On the restart I dropped back slightly but looking at the melee that was going on in front of me I was quite glad to be sitting where I was. It was carnage and we were running a 14 lap restart, for the last two laps the rain began to fall quite heavily and I must admit I did back off. Plater crashed right in front of me as he lost the back end so I gained another position.

"The bike feels great I would like to work on the stability issues that I seem to be struggling with, but it's not a major issue and sure something the boys can look into before we head to Knockhill in a few weeks time."

Rizla Suzuki

Rizla Suzuki's John Reynolds showed encouraging high-speed potential in his comeback races at the sixth round of the British Superbike Championship at Croft Circuit in North Yorkshire today.

Starting from the fourth row of the grid, the reigning British Superbike Champion - who missed the previous two rounds of the series as he recovered from injury - displayed a dazzling turn of speed while carving through back markers in the first race. He recorded the sixth fastest lap of the race but his heroics came to an abrupt end when he collided with a slower rider while fighting for a top 10 finish.

In the second race Reynolds made a fantastic start and was up to sixth and in podium contention on the fifth lap when it started to rain. The race was stopped and restarted again in dry but drizzling conditions. Immediately a three-rider crash caused the safety car to be called out. The weather continued to get worse and he brought his Rizla Suzuki home safely in 12th while on slick tyres.

Team mate Scott Smart took a pair of 13th place finishes as he continues to try and find an elusive set-up on his Rizla Suzuki GSX-R1000 that will allow him to race at the front of the pack.

John Reynolds: "After crashing out of the opening race, I made it my priority to finish the second. The weather was awful; the race was interrupted by a stoppage and a safety car; and the track was treacherously damp. The best I could do was 12th under those conditions.

"We had a dreadful time in qualifying yesterday but at least we proved we have the speed to run with the leaders in the race today. There is absolutely nothing wrong with my Rizla Suzuki - the bike just needs to be ridden harder and faster."

Scott Smart: "The weather was horrible today and it was extremely difficult to race with the track slightly damp in both races. That is no excuse for my performances though. Put simply, I need to build more confidence riding my Rizla Suzuki.

"I have spoken with Norris Farrow, my crew chief, and we are going to use a test at Donington to try some pretty major changes to the chassis and look at a completely different set-up than we are using at the moment. The main positive from this weekend was my race starts: They were much better and that is good news."

Robert Wicks - Team Manager: "The most frustrating thing this weekend was the fact we did not build on the momentum we built on Friday and Saturday morning when we were competing for front row positions. We fell foul of poor weather conditions during final qualification and the races.

"The weekend has ended positively though, with 'JR' coming back to racing and showing exactly the right mental attitude and approach. He also proved his injury is no longer a concerning factor and that is a big weight off all our minds.

"Well done to the entire team for an incredible amount of effort on a difficult weekend. We will now go to Donington Park for a very comprehensive test and for it to be the turning point of our season."