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Monday, 17 April 2006 |
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 Gregorio Lavilla has further extended his lead in the Bennetts British
Superbike Championship by taking a win in race one at round three at
Thruxton. Such was Lavilla's pace that he pulled a lead of 4.46secs
over his team-mate Leon Haslam who came home in second with HM Plant
Honda's Ryuichi Kiyonari in third 8.282secs off the back of Haslam.
The race wasn't a straight forward event with a start line crash
bringing out the safety car for three laps. The incident left Karl
Harris on the tarmac in the middle of the pack as they all dashed off
the line and James Haydon crashing out onto the grass by the grid. It
looked like Harris was clipped by a bike from the row behind, he then
lost control and Haydon who was coming through bumped Harris' bike and
crashed.
Not a good start to Rizla Suzuki's home event especially with Shane
Byrne being penalised by eight grid places for missing the chequered
flag at the end of warm up and continuing for another lap on track.
Despite being shuffled back on the grid Byrne made an awesome start and
was up to ninth, his original starting position, within a few laps.
Byrne finished the race in fifth place just missing fourth after a race
long battle with young Johnny Rea on the Red Bull Honda. Rea has really
come of age and watching him battling with an experienced rider like
Byrne and come out on top is a testament to his riding skills and
talent. The pair swapped places on just about every lap at the chicane
before the drag onto the front straight.
Dean Thomas who had a front row start on the Hawk Kawasaki faded to
finish in ninth place. "Tyre wear is an issue for us especially with
our bike we do tend to wear out back tyres quicker than everybody else.
It was big a big problem at Brands Hatch, not so much at Donington Park
but it is going to be an issue again here," admitted Thomas, "We've
worked non stop on the rear suspension all weekend to try and get
longevity out of the tyre and we are getting there. I mean we know we
can get three quarters race distance out of the tyres, so it is just
the last few laps we need to hang on for." Unfortunately for Thomas it
hasn't turned out that way.
His team-mate Craig Coxhell opted not to race due to his broken collar
bone. Thruxton is not a sympathetic track with all the bumps and the
high speeds so Coxhell decided to give it a miss and try to be fully
fit for Oulton Park in two weeks time.
Privateer James Buckingham had an eventful race as he was hit with a
ride through penalty due to a jump start. Before the penalty kicked in
he was running in a superb tenth place and after he had completed his
ride through he worked his way from last up to fifteenth to score one
BSB point and win the privateer's cup race.
BSB race (1) results – Thruxton:
1. Gregorio Lavilla
2. Leon Haslam
3. Ryuichi Kiyonari
4. Johnny Rea
5. Shane Byrne
6. Michael Rutter
7. Glen Richards
8. Tommy Hill
9. Dean Thomas
10. Michael Laverty
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