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Friday morning at Oulton Park was wet, and not all the riders went out in practice. The weather was better for the afternoon and everyone went out to practice. Saturday qualifying sessions were dry and Michael Rutter on the HM Plant Honda came out on top with pole position. He was joined on the front row of the grid by Leon Haslam (Airwaves Ducati) in 3rd and the two Hawk Kawasakis of Dean Thomas (2nd) and Glen Richards (4th). RACE 1 Race one was
held in sunny weather with Richards leading the way and Haslam starting
from pit lane. By lap 6 Rutter was in the lead, with the remaining
places being swapped about by five riders. Gregorio Lavilla
(Airwaves Ducati) finally took 2nd place and Karl Harris (Honda) having
his best finish so far in 3rd. Haslam had the ride of his life to
come through the pack to take 4th place. Results: 1. Rutter, 2.
Lavilla, 3. Harris, 4. Haslam, 5. Richards, 6. Thomas. RACE 2 It rained as
the riders went out to form up on the grid. This caused plenty of
activity as everyone changed tyres. Rutter led the field away, but
Haslam was in determined mood and was working his way to the front to
take the lead on lap 10, where he stayed to narrowly hold off Rutter.
Harris had another good ride to finish 3rd again, and James Haydon,
deputising on the Rizla Suzuki for John Reynolds, had a good ride to 4th
place. Results: 1. Haslam, 2. Rutter, 3. Harris, 4. Haydon, 5.
Julien Da Costa (Kawasaki), 6. Richards. SUPERSPORT Cal Crutchlow (Honda) had his first ever pole position in Supersport. Joining him on the front row was Tom Sykes (Suzuki), Stuart Easton (Ducati) and Jay Vincent (Honda). The track was damp, making tyre choice a lottery, and some of the 'big guns' got it wrong. Crutchlow was in front and pulling out a good lead, but he reckoned without the efforts of Sykes in the latter stages of the race who came through to the front on lap 14 to win the race. Paul Young (Honda) was 3rd, with Craig Jones (Honda) 4th. Results: 1. Sykes, 2. Crutchlow, 3. Young, 4. Jones, 5. Kieran Murphy (Honda), 6. Sam Owens (Honda). SUPERSTOCK Paul Young (Yamaha) made good use of his front row start to win the race by 7 seconds from Lee Jackson (Yamaha), Dave Johnson (Suzuki) and stand in rider John Crockford (Suzuki). |
