By Dan Moakes
September 3 2006

Bennetts British Superbike Championship: Airwaves Ducati rider Leon Haslam had moved to within three points of Ryuichi Kiyonari at Croft, thanks to a superb first win of the 2006 series. The Japanese HM Plant Honda rider was not a lot further ahead of third man Gregorio Lavilla.

Round eleven brought the competitors to Honda UK’s local circuit, at Cadwell Park in Lincolnshire, but it was a venue where Haslam and Lavilla had been strong with the Ducatis in 2005, with the home team disappointing. This year the red bikes showed similar promise at the scenic and challenging, varied gradient track, with Haslam securing pole position again and Lavilla qualifying second.

Like last year, these two were joined on the front row of the grid by the first of the Yamahas. Tommy Hill’s Virgin Mobile R1 was fourth this time, at the circuit where he’d been a first-time winner a year before. This matched his best of this season so far. Amongst all the red machines was the blue Rizla Suzuki of Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne, in third, with stand-in team-mate Steve Plater in a best yet ninth.

All of which left the leading Honda runners on row two. The full works Michelin-shod HM Plant bikes were fifth (Karl Harris) and seventh (Kiyonari), split by their Dunlop stablemate, Jonathan Rea on the Red Bull machine. Michael Rutter was eighth with the customer Stobart Honda, separated from team-mate Michael Laverty by Plater. Then came the Hawk Kawasakis of 19-year-old Peter Hickman and Australian Dean Thomas, with Hickman having his best showing to date.

Sadly, race day went ahead without Honda privateer Chris Martin, following the death of his brother Ashley in practice for the Supersport event.

Pole sitter Haslam went into action in the wake of an overnight stomach bug, whilst for all riders was the dilemma of tyre choice. Rain before the start of race one had made the track surface wet in parts, but there were no guarantees that it would stay that way. Most opted for a wet weather front and intermediate rear, and in Haslam’s case this meant a cut front tyre. However, Kiyonari and Harris had chosen full wets all round, with Lavilla gambling on a pair of intermediates.

Hill took off in the lead, from Rutter, but with Harris moving up to second in short order. His move was on the way into the third turn, which is a right-hander called Park with heavy braking at the end of the back straight. Karl was already attacking Tommy at the following right of Chris Curve. Rutter would quickly drop back, leaving Laverty third, from Kiyonari, Billy McConnell and Haslam. A pronounced shuffling of places showed the riders feeling out the conditions, with Byrne, Lavilla, Ollie Bridewell and Rea behind seventh man Rutter.

To begin with, Hill and Harris were getting away from the rest. With his tyres well suited to these early conditions, Karl quickly took over the lead on the inside for the final right-hander at Barn corner, and was soon stretching his advantage. Kiyonari was in the same position, and did not delay in moving up to get past Tommy at the Gooseneck, a quick descending right-left that follows after Chris Curve.

This translated to the lead for ‘Kiyo’, as team-mate Harris got the chicane wrong and ran onto the grass, rejoining in fourth. This put him in behind Laverty, but not for long, and Karl’s next move put him back ahead of Hill as he overtook on the inside at Park. With Ryuichi in a clear lead, Harris would soon stretch away from his pursuers again. By now that meant a pair of Yamahas, as McConnell had passed Laverty at Charlies, the long right-handed turn two. This put the 19-year-old Australian right behind team-mate Hill.

But all the time Haslam was catching up. Having left Laverty in a battle with Byrne, Lavilla and Rea, Leon closed in on McConnell. He dealt with the first Yamaha, and was up with Hill to make the next pass at Park. Meanwhile, Byrne had passed Laverty along the Park Straight, with Lavilla and Rea taking the opportunity to do the same in a frantic few seconds. The latter named now split the other pair as Michael was left trailing.

The leading five riders were now spaced at intervals on the track, but as a drying line appeared on the tarmac, so Haslam’s tyre combination allowed him to close up to Harris. He went by on the Park Straight, to be faced with a gap of around seven seconds to leader Kiyonari, which he would start to close down. Karl could not maintain the pace as his wet tyres lost their advantage, and was soon being tailed by Rea, Hill, Lavilla and Byrne.

As weather conditions brightened, Lavilla’s intermediate tyres came into their own. The champion was quick to pass both Hill and Harris as he set a new fastest lap, and he tagged on to third man Rea. The Red Bull rider kept him behind for a time, but then the pass was made at Park, and ‘Greg’ pulled away in his pursuit of Kiyo and Leon. The tyre situation meant the lead was coming down and down, with several laps still to run.

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Kiyonari could not risk the same braking efforts with his wets past their best, and so it was that Haslam homed in and could take the lead going into Park. He was followed through by Lavilla at Chris Curve, turning the race into an all Airwaves Ducati affair as they pulled away from the Honda. With three laps left, Gregorio was threatening, and with his front inter he surely had the advantage. GSE Racing did not want a repeat of their riders’ costly near clash in last year’s race, but the Spaniard made a clean pass at Park and could pull away to victory.

Kiyonari had dropped well back from his title rivals by the flag, but secured third when nearest challenger Rea made a race-ending mistake. Meanwhile, Byrne had got the better of Hill to finish fourth. The race for the next position had seen McConnell joined by Glen Richards and Plater, but Billy slid off at Barn, with Steve’s Suzuki clipped as Richards had to pick up his Honda. This meant the Rizla man followed his Yamaha rival out to the barriers.

Richards survived for sixth, and his best result of the year to date, with the Hawk Kawasakis of Craig Coxhell and Thomas next. Hickman’s grid place had not helped when he got away last as his bike fired late. Jon Kirkham was ninth, with Harris finally back in tenth. Laverty had fallen to P12, with team-mate Rutter outside the points.

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By the time of race two, it was sunny, and most of the remaining damp patches on the track were under the trees overhanging in the woodland section. Almost all riders opted for slick tyres now, although for Harris this meant a cut front. This time Byrne led from Lavilla, with Haslam and Rea quick to pass third man Hill, and Harris running sixth. With this part of the track dry, the second race would see more action at the famous left-right and uphill leap of the Mountain section, and on the first lap this meant a crash for Howie Mainwaring. The 20-year-old’s machine landed without a rear wheel...

But a more high profile early casualty was Kiyonari, who went down at Barn. He was able to restart with help from marshals, but didn’t get too far as his rear brake lever had snapped off. Before long the first five had broken away from the rest, with Lavilla taking the lead from Byrne at Park, and a small gap behind Haslam to Rea and Harris. Shane was pushing hard, evidenced by a fastest lap, and a dodgy moment on landing at the Mountain. Harris was also going fast, and improved on the lap record a couple of times as he cleared Rea for fourth.

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Byrne’s day was to end early. As he forced the pace to stay with Lavilla, he slid off on the lowside exiting Charlies, sending up a shower of sparks. He frantically tried to bump start the Suzuki once he’d got up, but was only able to tour back round to the pits. This left Lavilla just ahead of Haslam, with Harris now just in touch. Leon was fastest at this stage, and he nearly replicated last year’s incident as he out-braked Gregorio into Park with eighth laps left, but made it through cleanly.

Rutter, with an intermediate front, lost seventh when his Honda failed him, and he became a spectator on the hillside on the inside above the Gooseneck, joined by ex-team-mate Kiyonari. The leading trio gave them plenty to watch. Harris took back the fastest lap from Haslam, and his opportunity then arrived when Lavilla had a major twitch on landing at the Mountain. This put Karl in range to make a challenge at Park, and he just made the turn as he braked on the inside.

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Haslam was now clear in the lead, and he ran out to take the win by 5.8s. Lavilla seemed to have settled for third, but then Harris made him a gift when the Yorkshireman crashed going into the apex for the chicane. As in race one, he regained the track, this time just ahead of Hill. Lavilla was therefore second, with Rea in a solitary third. Harris lost fourth to Hill going into the Coppice left-hander at the start of the final lap but, despite regaining his momentum after the incident, he was not able to re-pass the Yamaha.

Plater led Laverty over the line for sixth, and his best result of a very mixed year; and Ben Wilson was eighth for Vivaldi Racing and Suzuki, from Richards and McConnell. Haslam was delighted, and his one point lead after race one had grown nicely with Kiyo’s demise.

Gregorio Lavilla had recorded his first race win in nine attempts, with his one-two matched by team-mate Leon Haslam’s two-one. So a good day for Airwaves Ducati, but approaching a disaster for HM Plant Honda. Ryuichi Kiyonari held on for third, despite their race one tyre choice, but his subsequent crash has seriously compromised his title chances. And meanwhile Karl Harris missed out on encouraging results both times, in unfortunate circumstances. It was a strong day in both wet and dry conditions for both Red Bull Honda and Rizla Suzuki, but with mixed results. Tommy Hill had a good weekend with Virgin Yamaha, with Billy McConnell also making an impact. But times were fairly miserable for Stobart Honda.

Standings after twenty races: Haslam 352; Lavilla 337; Kiyonari 326; Byrne 211; Harris and Rea 192; Laverty 152; Hill 151; Rutter 138; Richards 104.

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