The incident between James Haydon and Hawk Kawasaki’s Dean Thomas had left the former with a damaged shoulder, and the latter with chest and lung complications. Both were on the mend but would not be racing, although Thomas was in attendance at Knockhill for round eight of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship. Added to Haydon’s woes was the fact that one of the Rizla GSX-R1000 bikes had been stolen from the garage overnight at the recent Croft test (see related stories).

His Suzuki recovered, Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne, the team’s sole rider at Knockhill, was an encouraging second in qualifying. He was beaten to pole position by 19-year-old Red Bull Honda rider Jonathan Rea, his second such achievement but the first of this season. The other major Honda contenders filled out row two, behind the Ducatis of title leading Lavilla (fourth) and Leon Haslam (third). The Michelin-shod works bikes were fifth and eighth, Kiyonari leading Karl Harris in the HM Plant colours. Between were the Stobart machines of Michael Laverty and Michael Rutter.

Row three had a mix of Japanese machinery, with Yamaha R1 leading Honda FireBlade, Kawasaki ZX-10R and a second Suzuki. Tommy Hill was ninth for Virgin Mobile, from Glen Richards (Hydrex), Craig Coxhell (Hawk) and Scott Smart. The Vivaldi rider, and his team-mates, ran with his bike painted with the Italian tricolour, as the team’s owners celebrated their nation’s recent World Cup success.

The short Knockhill circuit had been attended to since the last visit, and the track surface made more smooth. Byrne got away first for the start of race one, followed by Haslam, Rea, Kiyonari, Lavilla and Hill. Leon made it into first place at the traditional best overtaking opportunity, Taylors Hairpin. This is a tight right-hander winding uphill, following on from the fast curving ‘straight’ of Hislops, and leading into the descending straight that defines the start-finish line. Haslam passed Byrne braking on the inside for the corner.

They carried on at speed in this order, but with the first two beginning to ease away from Rea, Kiyonari and Lavilla. However, the Spaniard soon had drama to contend with, running in deep and wide at the hairpin and seemingly stalling the Ducati as the rest raced past. He got going again, and it later turned out that his engine had ingested a small stone, but then cleared it again. After his crash at the preceding race, Gregorio was losing more points to his challengers.

Kiyonari was the man to take advantage. He first passed Rea at the hairpin and, with Haslam now moving into a lead, was soon able to do the same to Byrne. The race was on as ‘Kiyo’ challenged Leon on the outside as they barrelled down to the right-handed first turn of Duffus Dip. The Ducati rider resisted the move, and at the same time Byrne started to close in again. Rea was now in a solitary fourth.

Kiyo had another go at Haslam, with his Honda’s power delivery this time taking him past on the main straight. Leon tried to take the place back at the hairpin, but only succeeded in taking himself wide, where he then had to settle into third behind Byrne as well. The 23-year-old’s first win of the year remained elusive, as the margins between the four leaders remained just too long for anyone to try another move as the race reached its conclusion.

Kiyonari won, from Byrne, Haslam and Rea. Laverty emerged for fifth, from Coxhell, the disappointing Harris, Hill, Richards and Smart. Lavilla recovered to eleventh, and five points, with last year’s three-time winner Rutter back in 13th. Gregorio’s lead was now twenty over Ryuichi, and 27 over Leon; and Byrne was now ahead of Harris.

Race two was again led away by Byrne and Haslam, this time with Lavilla staying closer in third, from Rea, Kiyonari, Harris, Hill, Laverty, Richards, Rutter, Smart, Coxhell, Ben Wilson and James Buckingham. The two leaders set some fast laps from the off, with Byrne the first to break the track record. As the field spread out, Harris fell into a lonely sixth, with the rest dropping off further.

Byrne, Haslam and Lavilla began to pull clear of Rea, which was the cue for the rapid Kiyo to attack the young Ulsterman’s position. His second attempt at the hairpin was successful, but the moment was not to last. Exiting the Clark Curve right-handed brow, the Japanese rider stuck a leg out and immediately pulled off at Hislops. His bike was obviously finished, and this could only help the two Ducati title challengers.

The gaps between the first three were starting to stretch out, but a turn of speed from Rea was enabling him to get back into it. However, Byrne was about to improve on the fastest lap as he moved into an unassailable lead. He was soon to move the margin to 1.3s and beyond, leaving a three-way tussle for second, between Haslam, Lavilla and Rea. More drama was sure to follow.

Rea challenged Lavilla on the outside at the hairpin, which wasn’t going to work, and he was also on the offensive for Duffus Dip. Gregorio was more interested in a place gain for himself, and so had a look at his team-mate at Taylors. Again this didn’t come off, but in fact it let Rea through instead. Now the Red Bull rider set about Haslam, and he made it by under braking on the inside at Clark. As they exited the corner, so Lavilla exited the race. The Spaniard crashed out behind the duelling duo, losing the front end! Leon was still trying to recover his place at the hairpin, but without success.

Byrne was well clear by the last lap, so was in no real danger as he ran very wide at the final hairpin. It proved to be his first win since 2003, and the Rizla team’s first in 41 races. Meanwhile, Rea held onto second from Haslam. Further back, both Laverty and Hill had caught and dealt with Harris, with the Yamaha man coming out on top. Smart moved up from P11 to take seventh behind Karl, with Coxhell out-running Rutter, then Wilson, Kieran Clarke, Buckingham, Ollie Bridewell, Billy McConnell and Peter Hickman.

It had been an excellent turn around for Shakey Byrne and Rizla Suzuki, but turned into a mixed weekend for the title challengers. Gregorio Lavilla’s earlier tally of seven wins from ten starts is now a less impressive seven from fourteen; and he has only scored five points from the last three. His race two crash wasted an opportunity to capitalise on Ryuichi Kiyonari’s mechanical breakdown, and puts the first three within just twenty points. Not too long ago, the lead was 62. For Leon Haslam the meeting was an encouraging letdown. He closes to within eleven points of the lead, keeping up a consistent record, but can now look back on twelve podium results without a win all season. But it was the opposite feeling for Jonathan Rea, recording his first podium visit in the series, following several fourths and fifths.

Standings after fourteen races: Lavilla 244; Haslam 233; Kiyonari 224; Byrne 150; Harris and Rea 129; Laverty 118; Hill 108; Rutter 99; Smart 74; Richards 72; Thomas 64; Coxhell 60.

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