Airwaves Ducati rider Gregorio Lavilla now leads the championship by 61 points after a double win in round four of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship. Ducati also lead the manufacturers’ championship by a commanding 49 points. Leon Haslam had a mixed day of results coming 3rd in the first race before stalling prior to the warm up lap in the second race; he then had to start from the pit lane on his spare bike, resulting in a well fought 7th place finish.
In race one Leon Haslam led from the start, followed by the two Rizla Suzuki’s and Lavilla. The top four moved away from the rest of the field and Lavilla overtook Byrne and Haydon on consecutive laps to move from 4th up to 2nd behind his Airwaves Ducati team mate. On lap 9 Lavilla and Byrne passed Haslam pushing him into 3rd. In the second half of the race Byrne temporarily took the lead from Lavilla before the Spaniard reclaimed it to take the chequered flag.
Race two saw Haslam stall his 999F06 prior to the warm up lap, this resulted in Leon having to retrieve his spare bike and start the race from the pit lane. When the race commenced Lavilla moved into 4th before picking off the riders in front of him to lead by lap 3. Leon’s start resulted in him being at the back of the field but he rode some fast laps trying to regain some valuable championship points. At the front of the field Lavilla was holding off the challenge from Harris as they battled it out for the top podium. On the final lap Harris made two attempts for the lead, however Greg fought back in style crossing the line just 0.058 seconds ahead of the Honda to take his second win of the day.
At the end of the day a disappointed Leon Haslam said, “My engine cut on the start of the warm up lap, I knew the Airwaves Ducati could not be started so I ran for my spare bike in the pit lane. I worked hard to make my way through the field but I was disappointed not to achieve a better position. I reckon I could have been up with Greg & Karl fighting for podium places had I not had my start problems. I will now focus on Mondello, where we got our first one-two last year, hopefully I will get another pole position and more podium finishes.”
Double race winner Gregorio Lavilla said, “Everybody says it looks easy for me out there but maybe now they won’t say that as this afternoon was a tough race for me. It has been a good result this weekend, after Friday practice I had some problems but on Saturday I was much happier but it rained over night so today the track conditions were very different to qualifying and definitely much slower. In the second race I could hear the Honda behind me and I knew he would try hard to pass on the last turn, I remembered last year when I lost the race there so I decided not to let the same thing happen again, thankfully it worked and I won the race!.”
Colin Wright said “Both races were spectacular for the Airwaves Ducati team, I’m sure the fans of BSB and TV viewers enjoyed the racing today. We have enjoyed a run of good results so far but to win races when the competition is so strong gives the team sponsors and fans an extra buzz. We are now looking forward to Mondello Park in three weeks time and hopefully we will continue our current form.”
Round 5 of the British Superbike Championship takes place at Mondello Park on May 21st.
Race One Results:1) Gregorio Lavilla – Airwaves Ducati
2) Shane Byrne – Rizla Suzuki
3) Leon Haslam – Airwaves Ducati
4) James Haydon – Rizla Suzuki
5) Karl Harris – HM Plant Honda
6) Ryuichi Kiyonari – HM Plant Honda
7) Tommy Hill – Virgin Mobile Yamaha
Race Two Results:1) Gregorio Lavilla – Airwaves Ducati
2) Karl Harris – HM Plant Honda
3) Shane Byrne – Rizla Suzuki
4) Jonathan Rea – Red Bull Honda
5) Ryuichi Kiyonari – HM Plant Honda
6) Micheal Rutter – Stobart Motorsport
7) Leon Haslam – Airwaves Ducati
Related Linkswww.airwaves-ducati.co.uk
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