With qualifying interrupted by heavy rain, the grid had a somewhat unfamiliar look to it. Rutter recorded his third pole position of the season, but was joined on the front row by Paul Young, on the Appleyard Yamaha, Hawk Kawasaki’s Glen Richards, and Byrne on a second Ducati. Row two was led by John Reynolds’ Suzuki, with the Yamahas of Steve Hislop (Virgin Mobile) and Jon Kirkham (also Appleyard) in front of Steve Plater’s Honda. On the third row, Sean Emmett was pushed back to twelfth by Gary Mason (Virgin Yamaha), John McGuinness (ETI Ducati) and Scott Smart on the second of the Kawasakis.

Race one was declared wet, as the track was still damp from earlier rain, so the riders went out with the appropriate tyres. But before it could get underway, the polesitter made a late dive into the pits for a change of rear. With the circuit drying out, Rutter felt that intermediate rubber would work better for him, and he gambled that no further rain was in the offing. Despite starting behind the field, from the pitlane, he felt he would have the advantage.

At the start, Richards got the jump on the rest, leading Hislop, Byrne, McGuinness, Young, Emmett, Dennis Hobbs and Kirkham. Reynolds had lost out initially, and of course Rutter was last to start. Showing the same scintillating form as we’ve come to expect, ‘Shakey’ Byrne wasn’t hanging about. During the course of lap one, he passed both Hislop and Richards, and was already going away from these two as they crossed the line. Damp tarmac was not about to affect the MonsterMob Ducati’s monoply on leading.

Byrne was soon on his own, as usual, and the developing battle was for second, between Richards, McGuinness and Young. To begin with, Richards seemed comfortably clear of the third place battle, which changed early on as both McGuinness and Young went past Hislop in one go. Emmett was still sixth, until he also relegated Hislop, going inside the Scot at the final hairpin. The Renegade Ducati was not far from the group ahead, and gaining on him was Reynolds, once he too had gone ahead of the champion.

Young was obviously keen to take advantage of the conditions, as well as his qualifying form, and he moved into second as he passed both McGuinness and Richards, at the hairpin on successive laps, before moving a little way clear. Reynolds was also on the move, overtaking Emmett at the same corner, and before long he had gone through on McGuinness, again at the hairpin, and then immediately out-dragged Richards on the main straight. Meanwhile, Rutter was looming in seventh place, as the track continued drying out.

Michael was in determined mood, going around the outside of team-mate Emmett and homing in on the next pair. As Reynolds attacked Young for second, so Rutter made his way past both McGuinness and Richards to run fourth. The Suzuki of ‘JR’ was into P2 when its straightline speed proved superior to that of Young’s R1, but then Rutter went past the pair of them into the hairpin! He began to circulate at two seconds a lap faster than Byrne, and it seemed his tyre gamble was paying off.

However, at this stage the rain began to pour down, and Rutter was the one man with the wrong rear tyre. He hung on to his Ducati as best he could, but began to drop backwards into the field. In the end, the only decision was to pit for a tyre change, but this effectively cost him any chance of a decent result, and he ended up fifteenth. Byrne had no such worries, and he duly wheelied it home, with Young and Reynolds also claiming rostrum finishes. For the Australian, this was his best result since coming third at the same ciruit, three years earlier.

The rain had changed the lower placings by the end. Plater came through to finish fourth, from Emmett, Richards, Mason, McGuinness, John Crawford, Yukio Kagayama, Lee Jackson and Smart, with Hislop winding up back in thirteenth. Rutter’s single point meant he was now 79 behind Byrne.

Race two took place in dry conditions, albeit with rain clouds lurking in the distance, and so all the riders took up their grid positions as expected. As they moved away, Byrne and Young made contact briefly, and this proved costly to the Yamaha man, who disappeared into the pack as he grappled to regain control. Byrne was unaffected, but was challenged strongly by Rutter through the dips and rises of the first couple of turns. ‘Shakey’ duly took control, and was building a lead as the lap unfolded.

Behind Rutter, Reynolds was third from Richards, Mason and Hislop. The double champion moved past his younger team-mate as the lap ended, whilst Dean Ellison was a first lap retirment for D&B Ducati. With Byrne soon in a strong lead, Rutter was to come under pressure from the Rizla GSX-R of Reynolds. The battle for fourth became one between Richards, Plater and Hislop, with the Honda man attacking and going through on the straight. However, this actually meant he was up to third, following Rutter’s engine failure as he crossed the finish line mid-race.

From this point, positions seemed to stabilise, and no-one looked capable of stopping Byrne. But this became academic anyway, as there was more rainfall at two-thirds distance. The red flag was shown, and the race declared complete. Byrne had taken his eleventh career victory, with Reynolds, Plater, Richards, Hislop and Mason completing the top six. Kagayama was seventh, ahead of Emmett, Young, McGuinness, Smart and Jackson.

Rutter’s misfortunes gave Byrne what looked to be an unassailable points margin, and this also meant that Richards, Reynolds and the rest began to look threatening for second place. But then a lot can happen in a few races, and there are several still left to run.

Standings after ten races: Byrne 240; Rutter 136; Richards 110; Reynolds 100; Kagayama 97; Mason 94; Plater 93; Hislop 91; Crawford 62; Emmett 58; Smart 56; Young 53.

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