Easton and Laverty on top at Oulton
Added on Monday, May 3rd, 2010 by Carole Nash Editor
Easton and Laverty on top at Oulton
After narrowly missing out on pole position in yesterday’s Roll for Pole qualifying session, Stuart Easton continued his dominant form to take the first British Superbike win of the day at Oulton Park.
As the lights went out at the start of race one, Easton got the jump on pole man Tommy Hill, to imediatel;y launch into the lead. Hill was forced to settle for second, while Josh Brookes followed in third. Michael Rutter set off to claim fourth place, with Alastair Seeley continuing his strong form in fifth.
As the field weaved their way around the first lap, Yukio Kagayama became the first casualty of the day, crashing off of his Worx Crescent Suzuki along the Lakeside section of the track. Kagayama was seemingley injured, finding it difficult to pick himself up. It was later reported that the rider has suspectedly crushed a vertebrae and wouldn’t be taking part in the second race.
As the pack reached the infamous banked Shell bend on lap two, returning rider Ian Lowry slipped off of his Motorpoint Yamaha, forcing him into the gravel and out of the race.
After firing off the line at the start of the race, Tommy Bridewell, recovering from loosing his little finger last time out at Thruxton due to a crash, was given a ride through penalty for jumping the start.
Back up at the front, Easton and Hill had the top two positions taken care of, leading the field by ten seconds. Hill tried his best corner after corner, lap after lap, to try and find a way passed the Swan Honda rider, however was unable to get through.
Behind, Seeley, Brookes, Michael Laverty and John Laverty were engaged in a full race battle, all eager to take the final podium spot. With just three laps to go Seeley appeared to be breaking away from the pursuing trio, however after running very close together for the remaining laps it was John Laverty who fought passed his brother and Seeley to take third as they crossed the finish line. Seeley was forced to accept fourth, while Michael Laverty took fifth. Brookes was forced back to sixth after a strong early showing, with Gary Mason seventh, Chris Walker eighth, Dan Linfoot ninth and Bridewell in tenth.
Changeable weather conditions throughout the day meant the timetable had become rather delayed, due to incidents and extra track time for the riders to get used to the wet surface. As a result the second BSB race was shortened to fifteen laps.
At the start it was Ryuichi kiyonari who immediately took the lead, while Hill settled into second and Michael Laverty third. After just missing out on a podium finish in race one, Laverty was determined to do well second time out, and wasted no time at all finding a way passed Kiyonari. By the start of lap two the Relentless Suzuki by TAS rider was through into the lead, which he held onto until he saw the chequered flag.
Eager to repeat his race one performance, John laverty was also on a charge, flying passed Hill and Brookes early on, however, he narrowly missed out on another podium spot. Michael Rutter was also charging through the field, getting as high as second place, which he managed to hold onto until the end.
As the race progressed Hill began to pick up the pace, enjoying a full force scrap with Kiyonari and Brookes. Ensuring he kept his championship lead, Hill rode a sensible yet strong race, managing to take third place by the flag, keeping up his ideal podium finish record this season so far.
After slipping backwards as the race progressed, Kiyonari eventually finished fourth, with John Laverty just behind in fifth. Seeley and Bridewell followed the Buildbase Kawasaki rider in sixth and seventh, with Brookes slipping down to eighth. Hudson Kennaugh rode a storming race to finish ninth overall and first in the Mirror.co.uk Evo class, while Adam Jenkinson rounded out the top ten.
Stuart Easton had a treacherous second outing. After struggling for much of the first half of the race, he pitted to change his rear tye. However, his problems seemed to continue and he rode into the pits and straight into the garage on lap ten, bringing his race to an abrupt end.
After claiming his maiden BSB victory, Michael Laverty told the BSB website: “The only way I can describe that race was awesome, especially as I was able to win in such as convincing way and if I am honest it was quite easy. I have always found it hard at Oulton Park in the past but I have to say I am happy with that. You want to be able to win your first BSB race in style and that is what we did; the conditions played in to our hands a bit but the whole team deserved it after the last few rounds. It has been a good weekend for us Lavertys so we will be celebrating tonight.”
After two strong finishes Kennaugh leaves Oulton Park three points ahead of David Anthony. In the main championship Hill has extended his title lead even more, with 126 points to Easton’s 75 points in second place. Brookes is just one point adrift in third with 74 points.
Cadwell Park is the next venue on the BSB calendar, and with the tricky circuit being a favourite with the riders it’s sure to bring more excitement.
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