Despite failing to finish the second race of the day, Airwaves Ducati rider Shane Byrne extended his lead in the British Superbike Championship today to 110 points after achieving a 2nd place finish in race one. Leon Camier finished 5th and 8th to secure valuable championship points. Race one was declared wet although rain stopped falling as the riders took off for their sighting lap. Both Airwaves Ducati riders initially got away well from the line, but Shane was to lose a couple of places by the first corner, slotting into 5th with Leon behind him in 6th. Shane pushed hard to get himself up to 2nd however, any further progress was to be hampered by a number of back markers. Leon managed to successfully withstand pressure from Michael Laverty on the Suzuki to cross the line in 5th. A wet second race saw Shane quickly take to the front of the field and start to build a gap. Lying in 6th, Leon was catching the rider in front of him when the race was red flagged and stopped. At the restart Shane once again took the lead. Leon, struggling for grip on a fast drying track, dropped back a couple of places to 8th. A combination of fast laps and quick, successive passes on back markers saw Shane pull away slightly from those behind him until lap 14 when he crashed heavily at turn one. Shane’s crash brought the race to an end and as two thirds race distance had been completed the race result was declared. Following his fall, Shane was taken to the circuit medical centre for a full check. On race two, Shane said, “I got a really good start and knew that I needed to get away as early as possible. I was feeling really comfortable on the Airwaves Ducati but saw from my pit board that the gap to the guys behind was up and down all the time. I came into turn one and as soon as I touched the brake I was down. It was a really strange crash because everything felt normal right up until that point. I’m feeling sore but I’ll be back training in a couple of days preparing for Cadwell Park.” After a difficult day, Leon commented, “At the start of race one the conditions were tricky so I started off pretty steady to avoid making any mistakes. Once I felt more comfortable on the Airwaves Ducati, the lap times started coming down and I was actually quicker than the leaders over the final ten laps of the race. Unfortunately after losing so much time at the start I couldn’t finish higher than 5th. I was feeling really confident going into the second race as I knew I had the pace to be fighting up the front but we made the wrong tyre choice for the re-started race and I just didn’t have enough grip. It’s been a tough weekend. A 5th and an 8th isn’t what I had hoped for but at the end of the day we’ve secured some decent championship points and made up some ground on those ahead of me.” Race One Results: 1.Tom Sykes Rizla Suzuki 2.Shane Byrne Airwaves Ducati 3.James Ellison Hydrex Bike Animal Honda 4.Michael Rutter North West 200 Ducati 5.Leon Camier Airwaves Ducati Race Two Results: 1.Leon Haslam HM Plant Honda 2.Michael Rutter – North West 200 Ducati 3.Karl Harris Team Yamaha 4.Tom Sykes Rizla Suzuki 5.James Ellison – Hydrex Bike Animal Honda 6.Simon Andrews Jentin Racing / Lloyds British 7.Cal Crutchlow HM Plant Honda 8.Leon Camier Airwaves Ducati More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki News Service: Rizla Suzuki’s Tom Sykes took his third win in a row at the eighth round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Knockhill in Scotland today – and then backed it up in a damp crash-littered shortened second race with a competitive fourth place. After a good start in race one, Sykes battled with Ducati’s Michael Rutter on the damp but fast-drying track, passing him on lap nine and never looking back. After winning the last two races at Oulton Park it marked a unique hat-trick of victories for the Huddersfield ace. Rizla Suzuki’s Atsushi Watanabe started from 16th on the grid and was fighting for a season’s best top-10 result when he was hit by another rider and crashed out unhurt. Race two started immediately after a rain-storm and on full wet tyres. Sykes moved from seventh on the grid to fifth on lap eight when the race was red-flagged due to a crash. The grid reformed shortly after and now on slicks to suit the drying 1.27-mile track, Sykes was in contention for a podium finish with six laps to go when the red flag brought the race to halt and the result declared after leader Shane Byrne crashed on his Ducati. Starting from the rear of the grid, Watanabe managed to score a point in the difficult conditions as Honda’s Leon Haslam won the race. Rizla Suzuki is back in action for the ninth round of the British Superbike Championship at Cadwell Park on Bank Holiday Monday, August 25th. Tom Sykes: “Race one was fantastic: My Rizla Suzuki was doing just what I wanted it to and once I passed Michael Rutter for the lead I controlled the gap until the end. A couple of the back-markers upset my rhythm a little but I kept going and to score my third Superbike win is brilliant. “Race two was more difficult with a wet first part and then damp but drying second. Fourth is OK and I’ll take the points but if it had been another couple of laps long I would have been able to take the two riders in front of me and a second was on the cards, if not another win. I am frustrated a little at the result but overall it’s been a good weekend. Thank you to my Rizla Suzuki team for all the effort and support.” Atsushi Watanabe: “Race one was maybe OK result until I was hit by another rider and into the gravel. There was nothing I could do; this is disappointing as a top-10 was possible. I was winded and sore but no problem. “The wet second race was difficult but I think I improved the rain-setting on my Rizla Suzuki. I started from back of grid after making some last-minute bike change. On the second part of the restart the weather conditions were tough but 15th place is at least one point.” Jack Valentine – Rizla Suzuki Team Manager: “It has been a difficult race day with the weather changing by the minute. Tom did brilliant in race one and is riding very well indeed; he deserved the victory. If the second race had gone full distance then I think he may have been second or better but fourth is no disgrace. He is hungry for more wins and they will come that’s for sure. “Atsu was unlucky in race one and then had to contend with the changing weather in race two, whilst starting from the back of the grid. He did well against that backdrop and will take heart from his first race performance and go to the next round in good spirits. “It’s been another positive weekend for Rizla Suzuki and we are now much closer to second in the Championship with Tom than when we started – that is now our clear target for the season. “Also, on behalf of Rizla Suzuki, I would like to dedicate the first race win to Craig Jones, a friend to many of the team and a great talent lost to British racing.” Race one result: 1: Tom Sykes (Rizla Suzuki) 25:09.296 2: Shane Byrne (Ducati) +3.093 3: James Ellison (Honda) +3.479 4: Michael Rutter (Ducati) +5.752 5: Leon Camier (Ducati) +9.345 6: Michael Laverty (Suzuki) +9.461 7: Karl Harris (Yamaha) +19.051 8: Simon Andrews (Yamaha) +36.055 9: Tristan Palmer (Honda) +39.097 10: Gary Mason (Honda) +40.021 DNF: Atsushi Watanabe (Rizla Suzuki) 11 laps Race two result: 1: Leon Haslam (Honda) 11:58.300 2: Michael Rutter (Ducati) +3.214 3: Karl Harris (Yamaha) +3.541 4: Tom Sykes (Rizla Suzuki) +3.680 5: James Ellison (Honda) +6.591 6: Simon Andrews (Yamaha) +15.876 7: Cal Crutchlow (Honda) +16.539 8: Leon Camier (Ducati) +18.608 9: Billy McConnell (Kawasaki) +23.428 10: Chris Burns (MV Agusta) +26.439 15: Atsushi Watanabe (Rizla Suzuki) +1 lap Championship positions (after eight of 12 rounds): 1: Shane Byrne (Ducati) 332 2: Cal Crutchlow (Honda) 222 3: Tom Sykes (Rizla Suzuki) 214 4: Leon Haslam (Honda) 199 5: Leon Camier (Ducati) 179 6: James Ellison (Honda) 177 7: Michael Rutter (Ducati) 174 8: Michael Laverty (Suzuki) 110 9: Simon Andrews (Yamaha) 108 10: Tristan Palmer (Honda) 75 15: Atsushi Watanabe (Rizla Suzuki) 34 More, from a press release issued by SMT Honda: Delight and despair at Knockhill for SMT Honda SMT Honda experienced both the ups and downs of motorcycle racing in Round 8 of the British Superbike Championship at Knockhill on Sunday with Tom Grant scoring an excellent 11th place in the first race before being knocked off in the second encounter later in the day, suffering a painful arm injury in the process. The Scottish circuit has seen some terrible weather in recent years and this year saw a mixture of conditions with practice on Friday held in bright weather only for the rains to appear in time for Saturday qualifying. Grant proved to be adept in both though, running consistently inside the top 15 and he put in a superb display in qualifying to post the 12th fastest time for a third row start. With dry weather for race 1, Tom made a great start to slot in to 10th on the opening lap and just a few laps later he was up to 9th as he battled hard with the factory Rizla Suzuki of Atsushi Watanabe. The Japanese rider eventually got by but with Scott Smart crashing on the 19th lap, Tom was back up into 9th. His pace in the closing laps dropped off slightly and it was enough for Tristan Palmer and Gary Mason to cruelly overhaul him on the final lap and he had to settle for 11th at the chequered flag. Tom and the team were met with a wet race circuit for the second race and a steady start saw him finish the opening lap in 16th place. Briefly relegated a place on the 6th lap, Tom had worked his way up into 15th when, on the 10th lap, he was hit by a crashing rider and was knocked clean off the bike, hitting the ground hard, and the subsequent arm injury meant he was unable to make the re-start. Speaking later in the day, team owner Robin Croft said: “What can I say – bad luck strikes again for SMT Honda! Qualifying went really well for us and we had a good bike set-up for both the wet and the dry and Tom did a great job to get 12th on the grid. In the first race, he had 9th place in the bag but he started to get a bit of arm pump in the last few laps and he was unable to stop a couple of riders getting by. Nevertheless, 11th was still our best finish of the year and it added more points to our total.” “Race 2 was a different affair but although Tom didn’t get a great start he was up inside the points when he got taken out. Tom was riding well but simply got hit by a fallen rider and he didn’t know what had hit him. He’s in a lot of pain right now and although x-rays have shown nothing is broken, his arm got crushed by the impact and his hand has swollen up so he’s gone to the hospital for an operation to relieve the pressure. At this moment in time, it looks unlikely that we’ll be at Cadwell but we’ll have to see. The bike is working well and we’ve got a good, young rider in Tom so lets hope we can be back out on the grid soon.” Round 9 of the British Superbike Championship takes place at Cadwell Park on Bank Holiday Monday, August 25th.