Positive Results for NW200 Ducati
It was another positive weekend for the NW200 Ducati team
at Oulton Park this weekend. Michael Rutter on the North West
200 Ducati scored a fourth and seventh place respectively
in the two Bennetts British Superbikes races on his Ducati
F08. Team-mate John Laverty on the Buildbase NW200 Ducati
gained a sixth and a strong win in the Daily Star Cup races.
Following an incident between Tom Sykes and Leon Haslam
in race two, Haslam has been excluded from the second British
Superbike race subject to a 'rights of appeal' from Honda.
Therefore this promotes Rutter from seventh to sixth and John
Laverty from 14th to 13th.
Rutter is now lying in joint third position in the overall
Championship with only two points separating him and Leon
Camier who is in second, with 20 races still remaining there
is a long way to go and anything can happen. The 36-year-old
rider from the West Midlands qualified in fifth position on
the grid and was keen to repeat his results from Thruxton.
As race one at Oulton got underway the heavens opened causing
a number of riders to crash into the first corner and forcing
the race to be red flagged. It became a mad dash between the
teams to change from dry tyres to wet in preparation for a
complete re-start. At the end of lap one Rutter was lying
in seventh position when Karl Harris crashed out in front
of him causing him to lose valuable seconds on the leading
pack. He had to dig deep and set his sights on reeling in
Crutchlow and Sykes to a confident fourth place behind Shane
Byrne, Leon Haslam and Leon Camier.
Minor set up issues caused Rutter to struggle slightly in
race two, by lap eight he had fallen back to ninth place and
was having to fight hard to ensure he gained a good result
and some healthy Championship points. A crash on lap 12 involving
Cal Crutchlow forced the race to be red flagged and because
of the two thirds distance ruling, a race result declared.
Rutter commented "I'm pretty happy with my first race
result but I just had a few issues in the second race that
I couldn't do anything about. I still managed to get two good
points scoring positions and with the incidents today it's
not affected my Championship position drastically. We have
Brands next weekend and then straight to the North West 200;
I'm joint third in the Championship and looking forward to
improving that at the next round next weekend."
John Laverty who is still running on the Metzeler tyres
in the Daily Sport Cup Championship, suffered with terrible
grip problems during the first race, which was declared wet.
After qualifying in first position (Cup) and 15th overall,
he opted for the harder compound Metzeler tyre for race one
and struggled from start to finish from lack of grip causing
him to finish in sixth position in the Cup. Race two saw a
totally different result for Laverty when he regained the
form and promise that he showed at Thruxton and took a strong
win in the dry race, extending his Championship lead in the
Cup to 29 points from his nearest rival Chris Burns.
Speaking with the Ulsterman he said "I
was really unhappy with my first race result. After crashing
yesterday at Lodge and destroying my number one bike I just
wanted to ensure that I finished the first race. I had a nightmare
with tyres and hopefully soon I'll be able to run on the Pirelli's
and have more of a choice on what I can use. The second race,
thankfully, was dry and I managed to take another win in the
Cup which I was really pleased about. We go straight to Brands
next weekend and with the qualifying already finalised I'm
looking forward to racing at one of my favourite circuits."
Team Manager Ken Foley commented "It's
been a roller-coaster ride this weekend for the team but that
is nothing unusual at this level. We are obviously very pleased
with John Laverty's performance in the second race and he
has now extended his lead in the Daily Star Cup, which is
great news. Rutter has done a fabulous job for the NW200 Team
this weekend, given the fact that we are still waiting for
certain parts to arrive from Italy, which would have eradicated
some of the problems that we've had to overcome at Oulton.
We are now looking forward to Brands Hatch where we had two
great days testing at the beginning of April, which has given
us lots of useful data and information. Whilst the qualifying
positions have already been set we know that we will be in
good shape for the races."
Race 1 Result
1 Shane Byrne Ducati
2 Leon Haslam Honda
3 Leon Camier Ducati
4 Michael Rutter North West 200 Ducati
5 Tom Sykes Suzuki
20 John Laverty Buildbase NW200 Ducati
Race 1 Cup Result
1 Steve Mercer Yamaha
2 Chris Burns MV Agusta
3 Leon Morris Ducati
4 Luke Quigley Suzuki
5 Malcolm Ashley Kawasaki
6 John Laverty Buildbase NW200 Ducati
Race 2 Result
1 Shane Byrne Ducati
2 James Ellison Honda
3 Leon Camier Ducati
4 Michael Laverty Suzuki
5 Stuart Easton Kawasaki
6 Michael Rutter North West 200 Ducati
13 John Laverty Buildbase NW200 Ducati
Race 2 Cup Results
1 John Laverty Buildbase NW200 Ducati
2 Luke Quigley Suzuki
3 Chris Burns MV Agusta
Championship Standings
Shane Byrne 95
Leon Camier 56
Cal Crutchlow 55
Michael Rutter 55
James Ellison 46
Championship Standings - Daily Star Cup
John Laverty 85
Chris Burns 56
Martin Jessopp 51
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