AIRWAVES DUCATI DOUBLE
Gregorio Lavilla got a dream start to his 2007 British Superbike
campaign with a double win in round one at Brands Hatch today.
Team mate Leon Haslam secured a 6th and 4th place to give
the Airwaves Ducati team an early lead in the manufacturer’s
championship and Greg a 14 point advantage over his closest
rival in the rider’s standings.
Race one saw Leon move from 4th place on the grid into 3rd
and Greg drop from 2nd to 4th position. However, by the end
of lap 4 Greg had made his way into 2nd place setting a new
lap record of 1:25.724 in the process. After a brief coming
together with first placed Leon Camier Greg then took the
lead on lap 7. Haslam remained in 4th, locked in a close battle
for the final podium spot, with 3rd placed Chris Walker, as
his team mate moved ahead of the field. However Leon dropped
two places in the final 5 laps to finish the race in 6th.
Greg crossed the line 1.701 seconds ahead of the rest of the
field to achieve his first win of 2007.
Race two was action packed starting with Greg hitting turn
one in first place he then proceeded to settle into a fast,
comfortable rhythm. He had already built a good lead by the
end of the first lap and a battle royal was building for the
remaining podium places with six riders, including Airwaves
Ducati rider Leon Haslam, challenging. Having pulled out a
10 second gap on the chasing pack Greg was clearly disappointed
to have his lead written off by the introduction of the safety
car on lap 15. The race distance was then increased to 23
laps and from the re-start Greg saw his massive lead slashed
to under a second. However the Spaniard held onto to the top
spot to take win number two. Haslam benefited from the safety
car incident and had moved up to 4th when the race was red
flagged and declared on lap 21.
Leon Haslam was a little disappointed with his day. “I
am generally happy with my results today as I experienced
problems in both races. Obviously I would have liked to be
there challenging for the top couple of places but to come
away with 6th and 4th was a great result for me. Dunlop really
worked hard for me and it was a shame that I was not able
to capitalise on that and achieve a podium place. Now I am
looking forward to getting to Thruxton and getting my championship
back on track.”
Having achieved a dream start to his season Gregorio Lavilla
said, “Obviously I am very happy with how today has
gone for me, it has been a perfect start to the season. After
I won the first race I was expecting the second race to be
a really tough one but I went in front on the first lap and
quickly got into my rhythm. I was trying to ride smoothly
to conserve my tyres but when the safety car was called out
my tyres cooled down and I nearly high sided when I tried
to push hard again but my tyres were not up to temperature.
My rhythm came back very quickly though and I was able to
build on my lead again and win the race. I was pleased to
get my first double at Brands Hatch which is the GSE Group’s
home circuit and it was even more special as Darrell was here
to witness it.”
Race One Results
1) Gregorio Lavilla – Airwaves Ducati
2) Leon Camier – Bike Animal Honda
3) Jonathan Rea – HM Plant Honda
4) Shane Byrne – Stobart Vent Axia
5) Chris Walker – Rizla Suzuki
6) Leon Haslam – Airwaves Ducati
Race Two Results
1) Gregorio Lavilla – Airwaves Ducati
2) Jonathan Rea – HM Plant Honda
3) Leon Camier – Bike Animal Honda
4) Leon Haslam – Airwaves Ducati
5) Tom Sykes – Stobart Vent Axia
6) Karl Harris – Hydrex Honda
Airwaves Speed League Winner – Gregorio
Lavilla
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