It was a day of mixed results for the Airwaves Ducati team in round 5 of the Bennetts British Superbike championship today. At the super fast Snetterton circuit Leon Haslam achieved a 3rd and 5th place finish, whilst Gregorio Lavilla came 6th in race one but failed to finish race two. From the start of race one Leon moved into 2nd position but the speed of the Honda’s was difficult to keep in touch with. Leon was caught by Kiyonari pushing him down into 3rd where he eventually finished. Greg had battled with Sykes for 4th position, before he ran off the track on lap 17, losing two places and finishing in 6th.
Race two looked as though it may go the same as the first, however on lap 6 Greg pulled out due to a mechanical problem. Leon, who had taken 3rd position from the start, then lost two positions in the extended 24 lap race, resulting in a 5th place finish.
After the first race Leon Haslam said, “It was good but I just couldn’t do anything with the speed of those Honda’s!” Then following the second race Leon summed up his day saying, “It was frustrating out there; the bike felt good but it is such a fast track and we just couldn’t keep up with the likes of Kiyonari and Rea on the straights. It has been a disappointing weekend but we knew it would be tough here. I have to be positive that I have come away with 27 points and now we have a break before focusing on Mondello Park in a few weeks time.”
Greg had an unfortunate day, having crashed at Sear’s corner in this morning’s warm up he then failed to finish the second race. He was downhearted about his day commenting, “After my crash in warm up this morning I was really grateful to my mechanics who did a good job to get the bike ready for the first race. The bike felt ok but I did not get the best start. It was so quick out there; everybody was going quicker in the race than in qualifying and practice! Then I made a mistake on lap 17 and lost the front which caused me to run straight on at the corner, it meant I lost a couple of places which I could not make up in the final few laps. Losing the front is something I always seem to do at Snetterton, in 2005, 2006 and today I have crashed here by doing that!” Having been confident that he could perform well in race two Greg was bitterly disappointed with his DNF saying after the race; “I had a problem with the bike, it felt as if there was no fuel and it just stopped wor! king so I had to pull out. It has not been the best weekend for me but I know the team will work hard for Mondello and we will be competitive again there I am sure.”
Race One Results:1) Ryuichi Kiyonari – HM Plant Honda
2) Jonathan Rea – HM Plant Honda
3) Leon Haslam – Airwaves Ducati
4) Tom Sykes – Stobart Vent Axia
5) Leon Camier – Bike Animal Honda
6) Gregorio Lavilla – Airwaves Ducati
Race Two Results:1) Ryuichi Kiyonari – HM Plant Honda
2) Jonathan Rea – HM Plant Honda
3) Shane Byrne – Stobart Vent Axia
4) Tom Sykes – Stobart Vent Axia
5) Leon Haslam – Airwaves Ducati
DNF Gregorio Lavilla – Airwaves Ducati
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