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Ducati one-two at Thruxton |
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Monday, 17 April 2006 |
Airwaves Ducati took another one two at an action packed third round of
the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at high speed Thruxton in
Hampshire. Gregorio Lavilla once more scythed through the field and
pulled a 6.337sec lead over his team-mate Leon Haslam with third place
going to the determined HM Plant Honda rider, Karl Harris.
The fun began for the Rizla Suzuki team on the out lap with Shane Byrne
having a problem with his brakes, he wasn't confident in them so he
opted to come in and pick up his number two machine. This bike change
relegated him to the back row as the grid had already formed up for the
off.
Once the lights went out it was Haslam who took the hole shot whilst
Michael Rutter got a blazing start and jumped into second place just
ahead of Harris. Meanwhile the Rizla Suzuki team's luck went from bad
to worse when James Haydon crashed out on the first lap at Seagrave
corner.
The gloves were off between Harris and Rutter and they battled it out
for second place. Harris pushed under Rutter only to have Lavilla slip
past both of them on lap two and steal second place.
Once into second place Lavilla set about catching his young team-mate
and gradually reeled him in to take the lead on lap six. Glen Richards
on the Hydrex Honda was shown the under observation flag only to fall
foul of the concern and crash out unhurt. Next rider to bite the dust
was Ollie Bridewell who had been keen to impress his home crowd,
unfortunately for the Vivaldi rider he crashed out at Church. Billy
McConnell of Virgin Mobile Yamaha also crashed out on lap six at the
complex.
Ryuichi Kiyonari who didn't get the best of starts picked off Johnny
Rea to get up to fourth place. Once past the hard riding Ulsterman Kiyo
began to chase his team-mate and the final podium place as the Ducatis
were now 6secs clear of the black Hondas.
The crashing continued on lap nine with Peter Hickman high siding his
Hawk Kawasaki at the chicane, and he was lucky not to be hit by the on
coming riders. His team-mate Dean Thomas had a better run in race two
holding onto sixth place after doing battle with Rutter who had gone
backwards due to set up concerns.
Lap fourteen saw Kiyo passing Harris for third place but Harris kept
his head and passed his team-mate on the last corner of the last lap to
secure his podium finish. Further down the field Howie Mainwaring and
Kieran Clarke crashed out on the last corner whilst battling for
thirteenth place. Despite his back row start Byrne rode hard and
secured a top ten finish coming home in eighth place.
BSB race (2) results – Thruxton:
1. Gregorio Lavilla
2. Leon Haslam
3. Karl Harris
4. Ryuichi Kiyonari
5. Johnny Rea
6. Dean Thomas
7. Michael Rutter
8. Shane Byrne
9. Tommy Hill
10. Scott Smart
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