BSB THRUXTON ROUND 6 06/06/04

Once again the weather was pleasant and sunny all weekend.  Dean Thomas (Sendo Dienza Ducati) was on top form in qualifying, taking his first Superbike pole position.  He was joined on the front row of the grid by Sean Emmett (Ducati), Michael Rutter (Honda) and John Reynolds (Suzuki).  James Ellison (Jentin Yamaha) was also in top form, qualifying 10th on the grid and fastest Superbike Cup contender.

RACE 1

Dean Thomas made good use of his pole position to lead the race on the first 3 laps.  The race was stopped on lap 4 due to a crash.  Thomas led the restart for 7 laps from Reynolds, but it was all down to aggregate times.  The lead changed a few times, with Emmett finally coming to the front on the road and on time.  Unfortunately he waved to the crowd just before the finish line, nearly crashed and ended in 3rd place.  Rutter won from Reynolds.  James Ellison won the privateers race from James Buckingham (Suzuki) and Jon Kirkham (Suzuki).

RACE 2

Emmett made no mistakes this time and led from the start.  John Reynolds unfortunately crashed out on lap 5, breaking a collar bone.  Thomas crashed out on lap 2 and Glen Richards (Kawasaki) crashed out breaking an arm.  But James Ellison was the star of race 2, he was slowly catching the leading group and was with them, in 5th place, by lap 10.  He passed Scott Smart (Kawasaki) on lap 11 for 4th place, which he held for 3 laps.  Emmett finally won from Rutter and Gregorio Lavilla (Suzuki) who was standing in for the injured Yukio Kagayama.  Ellison finished a brilliant 5th on the heels of Smart, and of course was the winning privateer.

SUPERSPORT

Karl Harris (Honda) was in his usual brilliant form taking pole position from Matt Llewellyn (Ducati), Simon Andrews (Yamaha) and Spain's Pere Riba (Kawasaki).  Harris led from the start and won the race. Andrews was going well in 3rd until he crashed on lap 6.  Leon Camier (Honda) was working his way up from a 3rd row start, to have an excellent race finishing in 2nd place from Michael Laverty (Ducati) in 3rd.

SUPERSTOCK

The Superstock race was a battle between the two Buildbase/Knotts Suzuki team mates, Andy Tinsley and Tristan Palmer, with Danny Beaumont (Yamaha) also joining in.  Palmer took his first major championship win from Tinsley and Beaumont.