Hill and Laverty share honours
Added on Sunday, September 12th, 2010 by Carole Nash Editor
Hill and Laverty share honours
Tommy Hill and Michael Laverty shared the spoils during an eventful double header at Croft this afternoon, each taking one win.
After starting on pole for the first race, Laverty set off in fine fashion, as further back chaos struck. As the field weaved their way through turn one and two, David Johnson fell from his Two Wheel Tuning Becsport machine. He was soon taken to the medical centre for a check with suspected back injury as a result of his fall. While Johnson and his stricken bike were recovered the safety car was released for the first four laps.
As the restart began, Laverty immediately took up position at the head of the field once again, while Hill was close behind in second. By the end of the fourth lap, Hill made a move for the lead at the tight Hairpin, leaving Laverty to follow him for the remainder of the outing.
The HM Plant Honda duo endured differing fortunes in this opening race, with Ryuichi Kiyonari initially dropping back to twenty-second place, while Josh Brooks fought his way through the field from a thirteenth place start.
Michael Rutter enjoyed a third place ntil a fall at the Hairpin forced him into the pits. Rutter soon rejoined the race in the closing stages, to ensure his bike was adequarte for the second race. Meanwhile, Swan Honda teammates James Ellison and Stuart Easton entered a race long battle for fourth and fifth. The pair were soon elevated to third and fourth in the wake of Rutter’s incident, with Easton getting the better of Ellison as the latter was forced into the pits with a front tyre puncture on the penultimate lap.
Fourth place went the way of Simon Andrews, while Dan Linfoot crossed the finish line a strong fifth place. Brooks battled through to sixth, with Loris Baz seventh and John Laverty eighth. Chris Walker and Gary Mason completed the top ten.
Race two was much the same story at the front, with Laverty and Hill swapping places throughout for top spot.
Laverty got the initial lead once again, however this time it was Easton who slotted into second. Before too long Hill had sneaked through into second, and was determined not to let Laverty rest easy, breathing down his neck every step of the way.
Finally, as the closing stages of this second race approached, Hill saw his opportunity, and dived passed for the lead. The fight for honours went all the way to the chequered flag, with Hill narrowly crossing the line ahead.
Behind, Easton held onto a strong third place finish, while Kiyonari enjoyed a better showing this time out in fourth. Rutter fought to fifth place, after his race one woes, whith Ellison sixth and Tommy Bridewell seventh. Brooks took an eighth place at the flag, with Linfoot ninth and Andrews tenth.
Commenting on his victory, Laverty told the official BSB website: “”That was a really tough race and I knew Tommy was going to be there fighting hard for that win, especially after race one. I pegged him back and just went for it, got passed and then knew I had to put in two really good laps to hold him off. I was waiting for him to try and pass as I could see from my pitboard and the big screen he was right behind me, but we kept pushing and a win is a great result for the Relentless Suzuki team.”
Hill now leads the championship standings with 570 points, Laverty has jumped up to second place with 554 points. Kiyonari is third with 543, with Brooks fourth with 542 points.
The next round is at Silverstone the weekend of 25th-26th September.
