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Plater shares Oulton BSB wins with Kagayama

Pic: Carly Rathmell
By Dan Moakes August 18 2003
The Oulton Park British Superbike round took place in the aftermath of reigning champion Steve Hislop’s fatal helicopter accident. At a circuit where ‘Hizzy’ had won seven times in the last five seasons, and was due to return to action with ETI Ducati, the Scot was not far from most people’s minds.

In a tribute to the former TT and Superbike star, the Knickerbrook chicane at Oulton was renamed the Hizzy chicane. Stuart Easton, also from Steve’s hometown of Hawick, opened the new corner with a demonstration run on the 588cc rotary Norton that Hislop had ridden to victory in the 1992 Senior Isle of Man TT. And of course the racing went ahead as Steve would have wanted.

Qualifying saw the second pole position of the season for Suzuki, with Yukio Kagayama taking the first of his BSB career on the Rizla GSX-R1000. Team-mate John Reynolds was fourth, with the two Ducatis of Michael Rutter (second for Renegade) and Sean Emmett (third for ETI) splitting the Japanese machines. Championship leader Shane Byrne led row two on the MonsterMob Ducati, from Gary Mason (Yamaha), Steve Plater (Honda) and Leon Haslam (Ducati). The best of the Kawasakis were on row three.

When the first race dawned it was with a damp track from earlier rainfall. Most of the riders gambled on untreaded tyres, assuming the tarmac would dry, although Mark Heckles on the second Honda opted for cut slicks. At the start, Kagayama lost his grid advantage almost immediately, as Rutter went into the lead from Emmett. These two were followed by Mason, a fast starting Scott Smart (Hawk Kawasaki), Plater and Kagayama. Both the Suzukis had dropped back, and Byrne also had some work to do.

Very quickly Smart lost out to both Plater and Kagayama, and the duo of Mason and Plater soon pulled in the initial gap of the leading Ducatis. With the circuit drying out faster in some places, certain riders were able to take advantage with unusual lines. One of these was Plater, who took his SP-2 past Mason’s R1 on the outside at Old Hall Corner, the right-handed first turn. Up front, Emmett took the lead from Rutter on the inside for a left-hander, and Plater was next through, making it a two-way leading tussle.

Byrne was also intent on getting to the front, and he led Glen Richards as the pair overtook Smart in one go. Shane’s early progress was well up to his 2003 form, and he soon relegated both Mason and Rutter before joining the first two. At this stage, Plater had assumed the lead, having passed Emmett in an identical move to the one he’d pulled on Mason.

Emmett regained the lead with an inside pass on Plater, but the Honda man took it back again by taking the inside line away from the 998 into the chicane. Sean was pushed wide in this manoeuvre, which gave Byrne enough opportunity to slip through on the tail of Plater’s machine. If this threesome promised some exciting racing, the prospects were only improved further when Kagayama joined them as the track continued to dry.

As the first four started to come through the backmarkers, Kagayama was able to get past Emmett for third. However, at the same time this pair lost some ground to Plater and Byrne. But Yukio’s pace was such that he rejoined his rivals, leaving Emmett in his wake. When Byrne made an unsuccessful passing attempt on Plater, Kagayama was able to capitalise and take second on the inside at the chicane.

The race was shaping up for a thrilling finish when ‘Shakey’ Byrne slid off the track at Lodge. Moments later, both Reynolds and Mason went down at Ireland, the latter’s machine apparently dropping a lot of oil on the circuit. This obviously made conditions rather more risky and so, with two-thirds distance completed, the red flag was flown and the results declared.

And so it was that Steve Plater recorded his third Superbike win, with Kagayama second and on the podium for the fifth time in six outings. Although he’d lost touch with the two ahead, Emmett remained comfortably clear of fourth man Rutter, who was equally unchallenged after a fairly lonely race. With the demise of Mason, fifth and sixth went to the ZX-7RRs of Richards and Smart, and the next points went to Heckles, Haslam, Dean Ellison, Paul Young and Lee Jackson.

Although the conditions had perhaps played a part, this result marked Honda’s first BSB victory since the 1997 and ’98 seasons, when Michael Rutter won three races on a V&M-run machine. To be fair to the marque, Plater’s ex-Colin Edwards VTR1000 SP-2 represents their first serious British assault in many years. But it was still a historic occasion.

Race two took place in more familiar fully dry conditions, and this time Kagayama got his start right and retained the lead, ahead of Rutter, Reynolds, Emmett, Mason and Haslam. Rutter soon took over in front, although Kagayama was obviously unwilling to surrender his place, and tried to come back. This he did at the chicane, and from there he sped off into a strong lead. And the man to pursue him was team-mate Reynolds, who passed Rutter on the inside at Lodge, and also moved clear of the Ducati.

From here it became a race between the two GSX-Rs, whose riders built a sizeable gap to the opposition. Reynolds was able to catch up to Kagayama, and he made an overtaking move on the Japanese rider on the brakes for the inside of a right-hand curve. A fastest lap from ‘JR’ was not enough, as Yukio soon came back past. Then the rejuvenated Emmett loomed up behind them, having pushed his 998 onwards after an earlier incident with Rutter. Sean had muscled his way through on the inside of Michael, who was forced wide and also lost a place to Mason.

Either Emmett’s challenge then faltered or, more likely, the two Suzukis upped their level for the latter stages of the race. Once they had broken clear again, Reynolds regained his lead, going inside at Old Hall, only to see Kagayama retake him at the chicane. From here the 29-year-old’s advantage just grew and grew, and he crossed the line with a big gap over his team-mate.

Emmett finished a lonely third, although he’d had pressure from Mason for much of the race. Unfortunately, Gary had withdrawn in the later stages, apparently in significant discomfort after his first race crash. This might have left fourth to Rutter, but he had recently lost out to both Byrne and Plater, who crossed the line virtually together, putting the Renegade man back to P6, ahead of team-mate Haslam. Other points went to Richards, Heckles, Smart, Ellison and Young.

With Shane Byrne having needed to gain only sixteen points over John Reynolds, the weekend was not too costly for the Ducati man. With both of them out of race one, Shakey only gave up seven points with his race two result. For him to win the title at Cadwell Park, a fourth and a fifth place should do it. And with 128 points to make up, it’s looking like a pretty tall order for JR.

Standings after eighteen races: Byrne 365; Reynolds 237; Rutter 226; Kagayama 214; Plater 202; Richards 189; Mason and Emmett 148; Hislop 122; Smart 116; Jackson 76; Heckles 75.


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