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Shane Byrne took a winning double in an incident littered Oulton Park round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship to tighten his grip on the crown. The first race was stopped on the opening lap when five riders, including early leader Tom Sykes, tipped off in three incidents and with rain falling prior to the re-start the teams gambled on tyre choice. “We had six, maybe eight minutes to make the most important decision of the whole weekend, and that was what tyres to go with. The boys in the team chose the tyres for me, and I just rode them, pushing as hard as I could,” reflected Airwaves Ducati rider Byrne. Sykes again led on his Rizla Suzuki but Cal Crutchlow nosed his HM Plant Honda ahead on the fourth lap, only to run wide at Lodge at half distance, giving the lead to Airwaves Ducati rider Byrne. Byrne held off the close attentions of Leon Haslam in the closing stages to take the victory: “I tried real hard to keep the bike upright and keep the win – it made for a really amusing race which I am pleased to have won.” Leon Camier took third place while Michael Rutter, continuing his early season run of form was fourth for North West 200 Ducati ahead of Sykes and Crutchlow. Steve Mercer, riding the Bob Farnham Tuning Sondel Yamaha, enjoyed maiden victory in the Daily Star Cup, finishing some four seconds clear of STP MV Agusta rider Chris Burns and Leon Morris aboard the Trimite Brookspeed Ducati. Sykes led the second race from Crutchlow and his team-mate Haslam but by the fourth lap, Haslam had moved second and was riding hard, eager for a first victory of the season. Haslam made controversial attempted overtaking move at the chicane on the eleventh lap, taking the inside line but it ended in disaster. Sykes crashed out while Haslam ran wide across the grass. Crutchlow had the lead, but not for long before Byrne, who at one point had dropped back to eleventh place after an error at the chicane, had nosed ahead on the twelfth lap. Next time round, Crutchlow crashed, sustaining ankle injuries, with the action red-flagged and Byrne credited with the victory which gives him the lead in the title chase 95-56 over his team-mate Leon Camier,who finished the second race in third place. However after an investigation by the Judicial Clerk of the Course, Haslam was excluded from the results, a decision that following an appeal was upheld by the MCRCB Chief Steward. John Laverty took the victory in the Daily Star Cup, this third of the season, ahead of Luke Quigley, PDM Suzuki, and Burns while Mercer tumbled out of the second race. Bennetts British Superbike Championship results – Oulton Park. Race two – 13 laps: Bennetts British Superbike Championship standings: — Rizla Suzuki Report — Rizla Suzuki’s Tom Sykes led both of today’s third round races at the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Oulton Park and declared his intentions for the rest of the season. In race one Sykes led in wet but drying conditions before eventually finishing in fifth place; and in the second dry race he led for the first 10 laps before clashing with another rider and crashing unhurt. Team mate Atsushi Watanabe scored his first top 10 finish of his British Superbike campaign in the second race. In the opener he claimed points finishing in a competitive 13th position. Ducati’s Shane Byrne won both races at the 2.69 mile Cheshire track. Rizla Suzuki is back in action at the Brands Hatch GP circuit in Kent this Sunday, May 11th. This race was originally the opening round but postponed due to heavy snow. It is a shortened two-day meeting with practice on Saturday and racing on Sunday. Tom Sykes: “I will be focusing on the positives from this meeting and can’t wait to get my Rizla Suzuki back on track at Brands Hatch later this week. We proved we have the bike, rider and team to challenge for race wins and that is my intention for the rest of the season.” Atsushi Watanabe: “We return to Oulton Park later in the year and this I am looking forward to. I now know base setting and how to go fast here – so watch out for Atsu.” Jack Valentine – Rizla Suzuki Team Manager: “I am proud of the effort, determination and professionalism shown by the entire Rizla Suzuki team. Hard work and effort will bring its just rewards and this team is capable of winning – roll on the next round.” — NW Ducati — It was another positive weekend for the NW200 Ducati team at Oulton Park this weekend. Michael Rutter on the North West 200 Ducati scored a fourth and seventh place respectively in the two Bennetts British Superbikes races on his Ducati F08. Team-mate John Laverty on the Buildbase NW200 Ducati gained a sixth and a strong win in the Daily Star Cup races. Following an incident between Tom Sykes and Leon Haslam in race two, Haslam has been excluded from the second British Superbike race subject to a ‘rights of appeal’ from Honda. Therefore this promotes Rutter from seventh to sixth and John Laverty from 14th to 13th. Rutter is now lying in joint third position in the overall Championship with only two points separating him and Leon Camier who is in second, with 20 races still remaining there is a long way to go and anything can happen. The 36-year-old rider from the West Midlands qualified in fifth position on the grid and was keen to repeat his results from Thruxton. As race one at Oulton got underway the heavens opened causing a number of riders to crash into the first corner and forcing the race to be red flagged. It became a mad dash between the teams to change from dry tyres to wet in preparation for a complete re-start. At the end of lap one Rutter was lying in seventh position when Karl Harris crashed out in front of him causing him to lose valuable seconds on the leading pack. He had to dig deep and set his sights on reeling in Crutchlow and Sykes to a confident fourth place behind Shane Byrne, Leon Haslam and Leon Camier. Minor set up issues caused Rutter to struggle slightly in race two, by lap eight he had fallen back to ninth place and was having to fight hard to ensure he gained a good result and some healthy Championship points. A crash on lap 12 involving Cal Crutchlow forced the race to be red flagged and because of the two thirds distance ruling, a race result declared. Rutter commented “I’m pretty happy with my first race result but I just had a few issues in the second race that I couldn’t do anything about. I still managed to get two good points scoring positions and with the incidents today it’s not affected my Championship position drastically. We have Brands next weekend and then straight to the North West 200; I’m joint third in the Championship and looking forward to improving that at the next round next weekend.” John Laverty who is still running on the Metzeler tyres in the Daily Sport Cup Championship, suffered with terrible grip problems during the first race, which was declared wet. After qualifying in first position (Cup) and 15th overall, he opted for the harder compound Metzeler tyre for race one and struggled from start to finish from lack of grip causing him to finish in sixth position in the Cup. Race two saw a totally different result for Laverty when he regained the form and promise that he showed at Thruxton and took a strong win in the dry race, extending his Championship lead in the Cup to 29 points from his nearest rival Chris Burns. Speaking with the Ulsterman he said “I was really unhappy with my first race result. After crashing yesterday at Lodge and destroying my number one bike I just wanted to ensure that I finished the first race. I had a nightmare with tyres and hopefully soon I’ll be able to run on the Pirelli’s and have more of a choice on what I can use. The second race, thankfully, was dry and I managed to take another win in the Cup which I was really pleased about. We go straight to Brands next weekend and with the qualifying already finalised I’m looking forward to racing at one of my favourite circuits.” Team Manager Ken Foley commented “It’s been a roller-coaster ride this weekend for the team but that is nothing unusual at this level. We are obviously very pleased with John Laverty’s performance in the second race and he has now extended his lead in the Daily Star Cup, which is great news. Rutter has done a fabulous job for the NW200 Team this weekend, given the fact that we are still waiting for certain parts to arrive from Italy, which would have eradicated some of the problems that we’ve had to overcome at Oulton. We are now looking forward to Brands Hatch where we had two great days testing at the beginning of April, which has given us lots of useful data and information. Whilst the qualifying positions have already been set we know that we will be in good shape for the races.” — Harris Report — Karl Harris battled against the odds to qualify his Rob Mac Racing Yamaha R1 in an impressive 6th place despite riding with three broken bones in his right foot. The Sheffield hard-man defied the odds by cutting his own plaster-cast off his foot to compete at Round 3 of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Oulton Park, today (5 May). A gutsy performance throughout free practice and qualifying saw Karl overcome the pain to rack up another solid pre-race performance. Drama shrouded the beginning of Race 1 as rain began to fall on the warm-up lap. Harris joined the grid waving his arms in the air to alert the race officials of the pending danger. Despite his protests the race got underway, though was short-lived as a number of riders succumbed to the conditions at the first corner. A quick race re-start ensued giving the riders time to switch to wet Pirelli tyres. Karl struggled to launch his Yamaha YZF-R1 off the line but made up three valuable places to sixth by the end of Lap 1 Gradually chipping away at the gap ahead of him to Leon Camier on the Ducati, Karl fell victim to a highside coming at Druids corner in the closing stages of the second lap. Race 2 was to bring no further luck for Karl. The Yorkshire-man was keen to have a steady race and earn some valuable championship points. Not on his usual front running pace, Karl was running in 9th place for the majority of the race. On lap 12 he lost the front end going into Druids, crashing out of the race and ending his point scoring campaign for another weekend. The team now faces a very fast turnaround before the re-run of the snow-cancelled Brands Hatch next weekend (10/11 May). Rob McElnea, Team Principal: “Karl has put a very brave face on his fitness but this weekend has highlighted just how much his injury is restricting him. Obviously we are disappointed that we have shown so much promise but are yet to get the results. It’s going to be a very tough turnaround between now and Brands Hatch for Karl to be fit.” Karl Harris: “I’m devastated. I’ve tried my best this weekend to overcome the situation with my foot but I don’t think even I realised the full extent of it. The crash in Race 1 gave me another heavy knock to my foot and I have suffered as a result of riding injured. I’m so desperate to give the team the results that they are working so hard for but I think need to concentrate on getting fit before they will come.” — Hydrex Honda Report — Hydrex Bike Animal Honda rider James Ellison recorded his and the team’s best result with a superb second place at the Bennetts British Superbike Championship meeting held at Oulton Park today. The 27 year old from Kendal in Cumbria qualified on row three of the grid and after weather conditions intervened in the opening race causing a red flag, he eventually posted eighth position to add to his two sevenths at Thruxton in the previous round. But with a completely dry track for the second race in front of yet another massive bank holiday crowd, Ellison circulated with the leading pack in the opening stages as he battled with Leon Haslam, Cal Crutchlow and Tom Sykes and looked set to claim a good top five position. However on lap eleven Haslam and Sykes collided leaving Ellison to climb the order and when Crutchlow crashed as well that elevated him to second position and as a result he maintains his fifth position in the Championship with the runner up placing. For team mate Guy Martin it wasn’t such a good weekend and after falling off in qualifying injuring his wrist he managed twelfth in race one, but in race two he encountered a problem which caused him to retire on lap seven leaving him in fourteenth position in the Championship. The next round of the Championship takes place next weekend at Brands Hatch on 10th and 11th May. James Ellison: “I’m really happy. We’ve worked hard all weekend and just got better and better and we’ve now reached that extra level. We plugged away and we improved in certain areas and we put it all together in the race. I still have some small problems which we’ll get ironed out for Brands. When Shakey passed me he dragged me back up so I think I definitely had the pace to finish second. It was nice to finish where we did and I’m looking forward to Brands Hatch as the bike is working well.” Guy Martin: “I was over the moon at Thruxton, the bike was getting there and just needed polishing off a little bit, but we’ve been trying the new front forks again but they haven’t worked for me this weekend. Everyone is working really hard and hopefully we’ll get sorted at Brands. But we live and learn and if it was easy then everyone would be doing it!” Shaun Muir (Team Owner): “I’m obviously delighted for everyone and their hard work. It was great that James hung on in there and kept the early lap pace. It’s the first time we have ridden on a technical track like this in the dry and I’m completely vindicated in signing James this year. We’ve proved how much experience James has and I think the series is a lot better with his talent in it. We just need to build on this and keep putting the points in and we might be in a top championship position by the end of the season. Guy has struggled a little and he pulled in the second race so he can re-group for Brands and take it from there. I’d like to say thanks to the sponsors and everyone for their hard work.” — Yamaha R1 Cup — Sam Warren put in a stunning performance in the Henderson Yamaha R1 Cup race to claim his maiden victory in the class, today 5 May. Mason led from Emmett, the latter applying constant pressure to the Lichfield rider with Sam Warren keeping tabs on the leading pair in third. Jon Kirkham, determined to make amends for a slow start, expertly barged past local rider Stu Wilson through to fourth at Lodge on lap 3. The 25-year old Belper rider used all of his Supermoto skills to great effect over the following three laps. Sliding his Mission Racing Yamaha under Kirkham into Lodge for third on lap 8, Warren then attempted a brave pass round the outside of Mason a Shell Oils for second. The pass didn’t stick this time but the warning signs were out. A carbon copy move at Lodge pushed Warren up into second, now with clear track ahead to reel in Emmett. Braking late into the Shell Oils hairpin, Warren took the lead much to the delight of the watching enthralled crowd, pulling out an amazing 1.3s gap within half a lap. Emmett was suddenly drawn into the clutches of Mason and Kirkham battling for the other two podium positions as Warren disappeared into the distance. Embroiled in their own three-way battle, Ben Wilson took advantage to slide into the mix. Emmett claimed second spot with a pass on Mason at Shell on the penultimate lap, with Ben Wilson heroically stealing third from under the noses of Mason and Kirkham across the finish line. Sam Warren, Race Winner: “I’m over the moon, I can’t believe that I’ve done it. I need to thank Mission Racing and all my sponsors, my family and of course my mechanics. They have all believed in me and given me the chance to come to road racing. The conditions suited my Supermoto background and played straight into my hands today.” Sean Emmett: “Great racing! I got a really good start, I nearly got the hole-shot but I was in the lead by the end of lap 1. When Sam came past me our tyres were pretty shot due to the drying conditions. Sam used his Supermoto experience; he’s used to going sideways and I’m far too old for all that! To leave here as the Championship leader is a real bonus, it’s all about consistency.” Ben Wilson: “I knew on the last lap that I could get a podium position, to be honest I left it a bit late as 2nd was in my reach. Anyway to leave here with a 3rd is great, we are playing catch-up after that no point scoring round at Thruxton. I need to keep racking in the points to stay in contention for the Championship.” Race Result — Supersport Results — Superstock 1000 |
