Lavilla survives Honda onslaught in race two

Gregorio Lavilla took his second double victory from two rounds of the British Superbike championship, despite a last lap onslaught from four Hondas.

The race was red-flagged around lap 11, with Lavilla leading away as the pace car retruend to the pits, getting the hump on the rest of the field. But in the closing stages the Hondas of Ryuichi Kiyonari, Shane Byrne, Jonathan Rea and Leon Camier were closing by around 0.5 seconds a lap, following some tough infighting. Lavilla’s win came down to his defense of the racing line at the final chicane, blocking Kiyonari with his knee.

Chris Walker failed to finish due to an engine failure, along with Rizla team-mate Cal Crutchlow.

 Race two results:

1 Gregorio Lavilla Airwaves Ducati 29:01.593
2 Ryuichi Kiyonari HM Plant Honda 29:01.706
3 Shane Byrne  Stobart Vent Axia Motorsport Honda 29:01.842
4 Jonathan Rea HM Plant Honda 29:02.085
5 Leon Camier  Bike Animal Honda 29:02.957
6 Leon Haslam  Airwaves Ducati 29:10.413
7 Tom Sykes  Stobart Vent Axia Motorsport Honda 29:11.960
8 Michael Rutter Isilon MSS Discovery Kawasaki
9 Karl Harris  Hydrex Honda 29:15.077
10 Tommy Hill  Yamaha Virgin Media Optoma Loans 29:17.202
11 Scott Smart  Hawk Kawasaki 29:17.224
12 Peter Hickman Hawk Kawasaki 29:18.382
13 Steve Plater  AIM Racing 29:18.490
14 Cameron Donald UEL Duncan Racing 29:25.789
15 Guy Martin  Hydrex Honda 29:26.040
16 Simon Andrews Jentin Racing 29:27.336
17 James Haydon Yamaha Virgin Media Optoma Loans 29:27.618
18 Chris Martin  Red Viper Racing 29:29.626
19 Ollie Bridewell Team NB 29:31.585
20 Marty Nutt  Nutt Travel / T+G 29:37.627
21 Aaron Zanotti SMT Yamaha 29:37.807
22 Tom Tunstall  Hardinge Ice Valley Motorsport 29:38.170
23 Malcolm Ashley MAR 29:44.199
24 Paul Barron  PBM Racing Ireland 29:47.464
25 Ryan Farquhar Mark Johns Motors 29:50.279
26 Neil Faulkner  Team EMCO / NSF Racing 30:02.965

Fastest lap: Byrne 1m 15.382secs, 112.50mph

Championship standings after Thruxton:

1 Gregorio Lavilla 100
2 Leon Camier  67
3 Jonathan Rea 49
4 Ryuichi Kiyonari 49
5 Shane Byrne  45
6 Leon Haslam  43  
7 Tom Sykes   40
8 Michael Rutter 28
9 Chris Walker  26
10 Karl Harris  25
11 Tommy Hill  21
12 Peter Hickman 13
13 Simon Andrews 12
14 Cal Crutchlow 12
15 Steve Plater  8
16 Scott Smart  7
17 Dean Thomas  6
18 Tommy Bridewell 5
19 Cameron Donald 2
20 Ollie Bridewell 1
21 Guy Martin  1
 

 Read more about the Thruxton round in this week’s MCN, out on Wednesday, April 18, 2007.