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Byrne and Rutter win at Silverstone

Byrne’s points lead
By Dan Moakes April 28 2003
A varied field of machines lined up at a newly modified Silverstone circuit for the first round of the 2003 British Superbike championship. Although it wasn’t a big surprise to see Ducati’s 998 victorious in both races, strength in depth elsewhere meant that both Suzuki and Kawasaki made the podium.

The grid lined up without former champion John Reynolds, who had injured his collar bone in an incident during qualifying. But JR’s new Suzuki team-mate, Yukio Kagayama, was on the front row, behind the Ducatis of Michael Rutter and Shane Byrne, and ahead of Steve Hislop on the Yamaha. Row two had Glen Richards (Kawasaki), John Crawford (Ducati), Gary Mason (Yamaha) and Steve Plater (Honda).

The start of race one saw reigning champion Hislop take the lead on the Virgin Mobile Yamaha, with Renegade Ducati’s Rutter on his tail, from Richards. Then Rutter made his move, and very quickly Hislop was relegated to fifth, as Kagayama, Richards and Byrne all went past him. Mason was sixth, followed by Crawford and Scott Smart, on the second ZX-7RR Kawasaki. Two of the big names were early casualties, as a clash between Plater and the Ducati-mounted Sean Emmett put them both out on the spot, with Jon Kirkham an innocent victim.

Before long, Rutter was stretching a lead on the following pack, and his pursuers were involved in some frantic place-changing. Firstly, Richards overtook Kagayama, then Byrne did the same, and also jumped Richards for second. The Australian repaid the compliment almost immediately, and it was obvious that P2 was going to be hotly contested.

But Rutter wasn’t safe yet and, with Byrne finally ahead of Richards and drawing them all on, the leader found he was being reeled in. It became a four-way battle again, and Kagayama, on his début in the series, was as racy as the established boys. He proved this with an impressive pass of Richards for third, going through into the new bikes-only final chicane. Meanwhile, Hislop’s chances looked over, as his R1 struggled with technical problems.

Byrne was understandably looking to improve on second place, and was not about to give way to his former team-mate. When he attacked, the pair of them ran side-by-side thrillingly for several corners. But it was the MonsterMob machine that came out ahead, and it became clear that Rutter was now in trouble. Both Kagayama and Richards went by him successively, and he was left trailing as the brakes on his TestaStretta gave him difficulties.

Although the two leading four-cylinder riders swapped places twice more, the final order saw Byrne win from Kagayama and Richards, with Rutter holding on for fourth. Next home were Mason, Smart, Dean Ellison and Hislop.

As if to underline his victory, Byrne took the lead from the start of race two, ahead of Hislop, Rutter, Kagayama, Mason and Richards. But Rutter obviously meant to make up for his earlier disappointment, and again went by Hislop, just as the Scot’s team-mate, Mason, was relegated by the green machine of Richards. Before long the field began to spread out in this order.

Byrne held a safe lead for now, with Rutter also secure in second. Behind them, Kagayama, Hislop and Richards made a close group, and plenty of action seemed inevitable. This actually came right at the front, as Rutter set a record lap to close in on the leader. Sure enough, he went through into P1, and was thereafter too fast for Byrne to do anything further.

In the pack, Plater, racing the ex-Colin Edwards VTR Honda for the first time, looked useful as he attacked Hislop for fifth. But his form didn’t hold, and he faded to finish only tenth. Meanwhile, Emmett’s Renegade Ducati had a bad day, as he had to retire before he could make much impact on proceedings.

With Rutter uncatchable, and Byrne also out of danger, the best action in the final stages was with the race for third. When Kagayama ran too deep into a braking zone, under pressure from Richards, the Australian duly went through to take the position. This gave Hislop a run at the Japanese rider, but the GSX-R man just held him off.

The result had Rutter, Byrne and Richards on the podium, from Kagayama, Hislop, Crawford, Smart and Mason. For Richards, and the ex-Chris Walker Kawasaki, two third positions were the best results yet, and marked the first rostrums for a 750cc machine since the end of 2001. At this rate, we might have an even more open season than last year.

Standings after two races: Byrne 45; Rutter 38; Kagayama 33; Richards 32; Hislop, Mason and Smart 19; Dean Thomas 13; Lee Jackson 12; Crawford 10.


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