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Ryuichi Kiyonari takes the BSB lead at Oulton Park

Raceline Photography
By blue2bikes October 1 2005
Following the Cadwell Park round, the British Superbike standings were very close. Gregorio Lavilla had 326, Michael Rutter was two behind, and Ryuichi Kiyonari was seven adrift of that. All was to play for in the penultimate round at Oulton Park.

As the weather broke for race day at Oulton Park, for the British Superbike race, it was not a run away victory for any rider as first thought - with Michael Rutter being the only Honda Plant rider to have competed here when the BSB had their first visit back in May.

Michael Rutter, having had a terrible time at Cadwell and losing the lead for the first time in the championship, it was down to who could run consistently and in fact hold onto any lead that they might have. Starting at an unprecedented third row in position 11 during qualifying, Michael was in for a bad day.

‘The Kiyo Kid’ led from the off in the first race, and was hot on the pace to put some distance between himself and Lavilla, who was closing fast - and Lavilla is not one to let a win go wanting. Although he closed on Kiyo, it was Kiyo who was to hold his nerve and take a well deserved win in the first race of the day, with Lavilla close behind, and a now race fit John Reynolds in third position.

A disappointing tenth position for Michael Rutter meant that he now had no real hope of winning the championship, unless a disaster hit the two contenders now fighting for the championship.

Who could have said that the second race was to be one of the closest finishes in the history of the series since it began - with Kiyo winning the first one by a clear margin.

As Kiyo took the lead it was Lavilla who was to run with him and stay in close contention throughout the race, passing Tommy Hill on lap two to take up second position behind Kiyo, with John Reynolds again in contention.

Throughout the race it was a case of who wanted it the most and cross the line first, as the two leaders swapped positions at time, touching as they fought for supremacy. First Kiyo led, and then Lavilla took the lead, with each rider watching where each other was the strongest and who was taking the better line. Each rider was rehearsing where they were going to pass, and where would be the best place to drive through and gain the advantage to the finish line.

photo © Raceline Photography
© Raceline Photography

On the final lap, Lavilla made his move, opening up a five bike length gap on Kiyo at Island bend. Kiyo responded by gunning his FireBlade hard out of Foulstons Chicane, and was on the rear on Lavilla’s Ducati as they exited Hizzy’s Chicane. As they approached the final turn it was looking good for Lavilla, as he had a three bike lead, but Kiyo knew he had to pull off something special to gain the lead back.

As they entered Lodge it was Kiyo who took the initiative, and swung wide, leaving Lavilla to stay on the inside of the corner. Kiyo drove hard down into Deers Leap, gaining the much needed drive required to be alongside Lavilla as they crossed the line side by side. After some long deliberation, and after checking the transponders aboard the bikes, it was Kiyo who was declared the winner by a mere 0.004 of a second.

It was certainly a race not to have missed, and as they now go onto Donington, with Michael Rutter falling at the Foulstons Chicane, it is a fight between The Kiyo Kid and the experienced Lavilla for the spoils. That is unless by some miracle a disaster befalls them both, which is highly unlikely but not unknown as bikes can break down when least expected.

See you at Donington ...

Race one result:
1 Ryuichi Kiyonari, HM Plant Honda, 29:15.364
2 Gregorio Lavilla, Airwaves Ducati, 29:17.651
3 John Reynolds, Rizla Suzuki, 29:18.875
4 Leon Haslam, Airwaves Ducati, 29:19.659
5 Glen Richards, Hawk Kawasaki, 29:20.542
6 James Haydon, Rizla Suzuki, 29:27.885
7 Tommy Hill, Virgin Mobile Samsung Yamaha, 29:29.318
8 Karl Harris, honda-racing.co.uk, 29:30.200
9 Gary Mason, Stobart Honda, 29:30.257
10 Michael Rutter, HM Plant Honda, 29:30.486
11 Dean Thomas, Hawk Kawasaki, 29:36.093
12 *James Buckingham, Quay Garage Suzuki, 29:50.788
13 Sean Emmett, Virgin Mobile Samsung Yamaha, 29:52.524
14 Ben Wilson, Vivaldi Racing Kawasaki, 29:54.661
15 Tristan Palmer, Vivaldi Racing Kawasaki, 30:03.305
16 John McGuinness, Vitrans Racing Honda, 30:03.811
17 Richard Wren, Virgin Mobile Samsung Yamaha, 30:08.561
18 Luke Quigley, Jentin Racing Yamaha, 30:12.296
19 Kieran Clarke, Hydrex Honda, 30:18.129
20 *Marty Nutt, M Johns Motors/NuttTravel Honda, 30:20.800
21 David Johnson, Dienza Performance Kawasaki, 30:23.413
22 *Michael Pensavalle, MP Racing Kawasaki, 30:25.810
23 Les Shand, AIM Racing Yamaha, 30:31.445
24 *Chris Martin, Nycom Racing Suzuki, 30:38.910
25 Sheridan Morais, Team Nvidia Yamaha, 30:40.220
26 *Gary Watts, Motor Sport Vision Ducati, 29:32.745

not classified:
• Steve Plater, Hydrex Honda, 23:01.147
• *James Edmeades, MAR Kawasaki, 22:37.893
• Dean Ellison, Slingshot Racing Honda, 20:15.403
• Nick Medd, Arco Medd Racing Kawasaki, 12:24.878
• *Steve Brogan, PR Branson Honda, 10:20.998

Race two result:
1 Ryuichi Kiyonari, HM Plant Honda, 29:14.768
2 Gregorio Lavilla, Airwaves Ducati, 29:14.772
3 John Reynolds, Rizla Suzuki, 29:17.133
4 Leon Haslam, Airwaves Ducati, 29:19.381
5 Karl Harris, honda-racing.co.uk, 29:28.544
6 Tommy Hill, Virgin Mobile Samsung Yamaha, 29:28.628
7 Dean Thomas, Hawk Kawasaki, 29:31.710
8 Glen Richards, Hawk Kawasaki, 29:32.614
9 Gary Mason, Stobart Honda, 29:37.200
10 Steve Plater, Hydrex Honda, 29:45.507
11 Sean Emmett, Virgin Mobile Samsung Yamaha, 29:55.172
12 *James Buckingham, Quay Garage Suzuki, 29:58.364
13 Richard Wren, Virgin Mobile Samsung Yamaha, 30:07.142
14 *Steve Brogan, PR Branson Honda, 30:09.511
15 John McGuinness, Vitrans Racing Honda, 30:09.558
16 Tristan Palmer, Vivaldi Racing Kawasaki, 30:12.270
17 Kieran Clarke, Hydrex Honda, 30:12.272
18 *Marty Nutt, M Johns Motors/NuttTravel Honda, 30:13.506
19 Luke Quigley, Jentin Racing Yamaha, 30:17.587
20 *Chris Martin, Nycom Racing Suzuki, 30:27.344
21 David Johnson, Dienza Performance Kawasaki, 30:27.603
22 Sheridan Morais, Team Nvidia Yamaha, 30:27.634
23 Les Shand, AIM Racing Yamaha, 30:27.810
24 *Michael Pensavalle, MP Racing Kawasaki, 30:30.837
25 *James Edmeades, MAR Kawasaki, 29:32.454
26 *Gary Watts, Motor Sport Vision Ducati, 29:33.787

not classified:
• Michael Rutter, HM Plant Honda, 4:58.498
• James Haydon, Rizla Suzuki, 5:46.318
• Ben Wilson, Vivaldi Racing Kawasaki, 2:20.815

* denotes Superbike Cup Competitor

Championship points:
1 Ryuichi Kiyonari, 367
2 Gregorio Lavilla, 366
3 Michael Rutter, 330
4 Leon Haslam, 269
5 Glen Richards, 218
6 Karl Harris, 188
7 Dean Thomas, 159
8 Gary Mason, 141
9 John Reynolds, 128
10 Michael Laverty, 113

To buy the photographs shown above, visit Raceline Photography


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