Leon Camier and Leon Haslam took the victories in the tenth round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Croft where Shane Byrne fell six points short of sealing his second title success in five years.
The focus of attention was always going to centre on Airwaves Ducati rider Byrne who had taken a battering in a big high-side during opening practice and he was well on the pace in an opening race in which Yorkshireman Tom Sykes made the early running.
The Rizla Suzuki rider was at his most determined, heading the pack while behind him Haslam was duelling, and winning the scrap for second place with his HM Plant Honda team-mate Cal Crutchlow. Haslam aiming to become the first rider to win four races on the bounce moved out front on the seventh lap with Sykes coming under pressure from Crutchlow.
Behind them, Camier was impressing, closing the leaders down and snatching second place on the tenth lap and then pressurising Haslam, taking him three laps later and then charging to his Airwaves Ducati to a second victory of the season.
Byrne was up to third on the penultimate lap, but next time around was on the end of a determined challenge from Sykes at the Hairpin. The Rizla Suzuki rider emerged in third place, with Byrne dropping back to fifth.
The disappointed Byrne said:
““It’s no point reflecting on what happened, my objective was to finish ahead of Tom but he made a move and I went wide both him and Cal Crutchlow got back in front of me. I’m a bit frustrated, to say the least.”
Sykes gave his version:
““He stuck to his line and I stuck to mine and we met in the middle and there was a bit of fairing bashing It was a bit unfortunate but there was nothing controversial about it – we’d changed places a couple of times and on the last lap there was a fair gap.”
Pole-starter Crutchlow made the running in the second race with Sykes tucked in behind but Haslam was on the charge, moving into third place on the eighth lap and then closing in as Sykes finally found a way into the lead.
It was closely fought but Haslam had the momentum, snatching second from Crutchlow with a couple of laps remaining and then grabbing the lead, and the race victory on the penultimate lap.
Sykes took second from Crutchlow and Byrne who now leads the title chase 388-294 from Haslam with Sykes third on 290 points as they head for the penultimate round at Silverstone over the weekend of 26-27-28 September.
John Laverty powered through the pain barrier to clinch the Daily Star Cup title. He was still suffering from the knee ligament injuries sustained at Knockhill but he put on a battling performance to take a pair of seconds, adrift of Gary Mason in each race. Laverty, the Buildbase NW200 Ducati rider said:
“It’s no point reflecting on what happened, I knew that I needed strong results but I was worried that this is a demanding, twisty circuit, quite bumpy circuit and I didn’t want to do any more damage to my knee.
“I really didn’t expect to do it but this is great – we have had a brilliant season and apart from a sore knee, I am feeling fine,” said Laverty as he opened up an unassailable 127 points lead over Riders Racing Honda race-ace Martin Jessopp.
