Gregorio Lavilla, with a winning double, at record breaking pace, extended his points lead as he continued the defence of his Bennetts British Superbike crown in the third round at Thruxton.

The Airwaves Ducati rider took charge in each race after overcoming the early threat of his team-mate Leon Haslam, who twice made the perfect start, but was soon overhauled by the Spaniard.

Haslam had to settle for second best in each race as Lavilla made it four wins from six starts to charge into a 36 points lead in the title stakes but there is no complacency from him.

“I am not thinking of the title – remember last season Ryuichi Kiyonari won the first six races but not the title.”

That said, Lavilla is riding with an assured style and speed. He broke the lap record in the opener, and then bettered it, with an average speed of 113.25mph to win the second race by a little over six seconds.

If nothing else, his speed and domination is frustrating Haslam: “It’s hard making the start, and then seeing him come past, but in fairness, he has not put a foot wrong, and I am struggling a bit still with my ankle injury.”

Kiyonari took third place in the opener, and looked set for an action replay next time out, but his HM Plant Honda team-mate Karl Harris snatched the position from him at the chicane on the final lap.

Harris was at his most determined to set the record straight after escaping injury in a start-line tangle with Michael Rutter in the opener – the Sheffield rider tipped off, and slid along the track, with everyone avoiding him, although the unlucky James Haydon hit the Honda as it spun off the track.

Haydon then crashed out of the second race on the opening lap as the Rizla Suzuki team had another tough day at the office, with their former champion Shane Byrne relegated eight places on the grid for a flag offence during the morning warm-up.

Byrne battled into fifth place, just adrift of Red Bull Honda rider Jonathan Rea in the first race, and then had to start the second race on his spare bike after a mechanical problem, but he rode through the pack to finish in eighth place.

Ahead of him Rea had to settle for fifth place, just ahead of Dean Thomas on the Hawk Kawasaki and the Stobart Honda of Rutter.

James Buckingham, the defending British Superbike Cup champion, enjoyed a winning double, finishing each race in fifteenth place overall. In the first race, he overcame a ride through penalty for a jump start, to finish ahead of Chris Martin and Marty Nutt. Then, he looked set for second place, but Howard Mainwaring tumbled out at the last corner, gifting the victory to the Devonian.

Suzuki Report

RIZLA SUZUKI’S Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne took two inspirational and determined top 10 finishes after starting well down the grid in both of today’s races at the third round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Thruxton.

In morning warm-up Shakey missed the chequered flag and was penalised for riding too fast on a red flag lap by being moved back eight places from ninth to 17th on the grid. He gritted his teeth and fought his way through to fourth before eventually ending up fifth after a race-long battle with Honda’s Jonathan Rea.

On the sighting lap for the second race Shakey was forced into the pits to change to his spare bike after discovering a problem with the front wheel. He had to start the race from the final position on the grid before again showing his determination to finish eighth.

Starting from fifth on the grid Rizla Suzuki’s James Haydon was taken out of race one at the first corner when Karl Harris’s Honda skittled him. In the second race he crashed out on the opening lap unhurt. Ducati’s Gregorio Lavilla won both races.

Rizla Suzuki will attend an official British Superbike test on Friday at Oulton Park in Cheshire before returning to the same circuit for the fourth round of the Championship on Bank Holiday Monday, May 1st.

Shakey:
“I made a genuine mistake in morning warm-up and missed seeing the chequered flag. I kept going flat out for a few corners before I realized the session was over and ended up being penalised and put back on the grid by eight places. That fired me up and I gave it my all and fifth was a good result from that starting position.

“In the second race I had to start from dead last after a problem on my out lap and I put my head down and went for it again. I got up to eighth in the end and was wishing for more laps as I was stating to catch the riders in front of me.

“We made good progress with the Rizla Suzuki this weekend and I think I could have overtaken anything on the straights, it is a missile. It’s just a shame I wasn’t able to start from a decent grid position in either race as I am sure we had the pace to threaten the podium.”

James:
“I am bitterly disappointed with both races. In the first race I got side-swiped by Karl’s bike as he crashed in front of me. In the second race I lost the rear and ended up on the grass. Both crashes were on the first lap and my races were over before they started.

“Through practice and qualification we found good speed and chassis balance and I’ll take those positives to our test later in the week and the next round at Oulton Park.”

Robert Wicks, Team Manager:
“Shakey showed the real potential of Rizla Suzuki as he fought his way through the pack in both races. The GSX-R1000 is lightning fast and Shakey proved his class and determination to record two strong results. He showed how hungry he is for success and for the last four or five laps in the second race he was the fastest rider on the circuit bar none. His ‘never-say-die’ mentality was a hit with the huge crowd.

“James deserved better after showing such great form throughout practice and qualifying and he will come back stronger and more determined at Oulton Park.

“This has been another character-building weekend for the team, typified by all the hard work in the garage to rebuild James's bike in time for the second race.

“A big thank you to the legendary Formula One commentator Murray Walker who joined the team to cheer on both Shakey and James – he’s a real gent and bike enthusiast who we are proud to call a friend of Rizla Suzuki.” 

Hawk Kawasaki

Hawk Kawasaki rider Dean Thomas secured two top ten finishes at the third round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship on Bank Holiday Monday (17th April). 33-year-old Thomas gained a ninth and sixth place in the two Superbike races at Thruxton Circuit. After a fantastic qualifying position of fourth place on the grid, his second front row start this season, it was always going to be a difficult task to stay with the factory machines of Ducati and Honda at the super fast 2.4-mile track.

It was the first dry race day so far this season and with a bumper crowd of 35'000 spectators it was a great day for some fantastic racing. Hawk Kawasaki Team Manager Stuart Hicken made the decision to pull the injured Craig Coxhell out of the two races to avoid further damage to his injured shoulders. Coxhell made a valiant attempt all weekend to try and bear the pain but it was obvious the 23-year-old Australian was in a lot of discomfort.

Youngster of the pack, 19-year-old Peter Hickman was once again unlucky not to score his first points of the season. Tied up in some of the best battles of the race Hickman was dicing for 14th place in the first race and ended just outside the points in 18th after a fraught battle with Gary Mason, Steve Plater and Privateer Champion James Buckingham. In race two, Hickman lead a freight train of five riders for 12th position but sadly ended up crashing on lap 19 of the 22.

Sheffield based Thomas was content with his results saying "I had a disaster with tyres in the first race and to avoid crashing I just wanted to ensure that I brought the bike home. This made it difficult for me to stay with the front runners, as I had no grip what so ever. The second race was much better and the ZX10 felt a lot smoother to ride. I knew we would struggle with horsepower here and the likes of Kiyo and Lavilla came past me like I was stood still. I tried to conserve my tyres a little more and managed to get past Michael (Rutter) in the closing stages of the race. We still have a lot of work to do with the bike but we are definitely getting there."

Lincolnshire rider Hickman was disappointed not to have scored points saying "It's very frustrating not ending up in the points as I know there is a strong possibility that I can do, I think I proved that this weekend. I really enjoyed the racing today but riding a Superbike round here, certainly is a scary affair and so fast it's untrue. It's a very difficult circuit to learn in such a short space of time, I've been here on a Superstock bike but the Superbike is like an animal around here. I'm not sure what happened in the crash as it all happened so quickly but I'm just thankful I walked away from it uninjured. I'm looking forward to Oulton as it's a track I know."

Injured Coxhell said, "I really wanted to ride this weekend to try and get some Championship points. Although I made a big effort all weekend I knew that it was going to be nearly impossible for me to finish the races in the points. Both shoulders were sore all weekend but during morning warm up I was in the slip stream of Scott Smart and pulled out the pass him and got the bike into a huge tank-slapper which ripped the muscle in my right shoulder. It was so painful and knew then that I couldn't ride in the two races. I'm hoping to be fit for Oulton in a few weeks time."