Cal Crutchlow is pictured on his 2007 Rizla Suzuki

Thruxton is a fast and flowing airfield venue, with a variety of high speed bends and a couple of slow ones, and no real straights. Three of the most experienced riders in the field had past Superbike race wins at the venue, and with the Airwaves Ducati-HM Plant Honda rivalry axis accounting for seven of the last eight victories here. Those two recently dominant teams have new rider line-ups this year, which would certainly promise a different look to the 2008 season.

Qualifying saw 2003 champion Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne repeat his Brands feat and secure pole position. The Airwaves rider had three Thruxton wins to his name, in 2002-03 and all on Ducatis. His prospects on the new 1100cc twin machine seemed good. Team-mate Leon Camier would start fifth, with Byrne’s closest challenge coming from the team’s former rider, Leon Haslam. The 24-year-old had swapped to an HM Plant ride, just as the opposition’s machinery was allowed a twenty per cent engine capacity increase. The other works Honda was piloted to fourth by Cal Crutchlow.

The final front row grid starter was third-placed Michael Rutter, for North West 200 Ducati. The BSB ‘veteran’ was making his first appearance on the front rank since the end of 2006, after a less competitive year with a Kawasaki. Rutter had taken two Thruxton wins in the past. Camier was joined on row two by another Honda, ridden by BSB rookie Adam Jenkinson, in a good seventh for the SMT team. This pair were flanked by the first of the Yamaha and Suzuki machinery, with fifth man Karl Harris the sole rider in Rob McElnea’s team, and Michael Laverty returning to the series with the Relentless/TAS team. Karl’s R1 was in Yamaha corporate colours of blue and white, with the former red bikes having lost Virgin sponsorship after nine seasons.

First privateer was Rutter’s team-mate John Laverty, in ninth. Then came 2004 Thruxton winner Sean Emmett, who was appearing for AIM Yamaha as Steve Plater was racing at a World Endurance event. The Rizla Suzuki team therefore only made it onto the second half of row three. With Tom Sykes having crashed in qualifying, the 22-year-old was headed by rookie team-mate from Japan, Atsushi Watanabe. Simon Andrews (Jentin Yamaha), Chris Burns (STP MV Agusta), James Ellison (Hydrex Bike Animal Honda) and Billy McConnell (MSS Kawasaki) filled row four.

Harris avoided unnecessary drama at the start of race one, with a flat front tyre changed on the grid. The Yorkshireman got away in the fifth place where he’d qualified, but was in racy mood on the first lap. The Church corner is a fast right-hand curve round the back of the circuit, and Harris passed Byrne on the inside through there. The following blast through left-curving Brooklands saw him power to the outside of Rutter at Woodham Hill, which becomes the heavy braking zone for the right-left-right Club Chicane. Harris was already third, behind the leading Hondas of Crutchlow and Haslam. Jenkinson followed Rutter and Byrne.

The field sped on, with a slight gap threatening to open behind the first three, and sixth man Jenkinson pursued by Sykes, Andrews, Camier, Michael and John Laverty, and James Ellison. Byrne took third from Rutter, overtaking his 2002 team-mate on the inside for Club. But at the same time Harris was falling back rapidly, soon to be seen touring into the pits with a terminal mechanical problem. The race began to settle, if you can call it that with two-wheel projectiles rushing round Thruxton in frantic close competition. Jenkinson continued in an increasingly more lonely fifth, as Crutchlow, Byrne, Haslam and Rutter pulled clear.

The leading quartet remained fairly close, with two Hondas against two Ducatis. Byrne made a move for the lead at the Campbell-Cobb-Segrave chicane complex, which follows the first two bends. Cobb sees them switch quickly left before going back right, and Shane had the momentum out of Campbell to stick it inside Crutchlow at Cobb and go by. From here the Ducati man was able to pull away, with Crutchlow similarly moving out of range of Rutter and Haslam.

Michael Laverty had got past Camier, Andrews and Sykes to run sixth in front of Andrews and the advancing James Ellison. While these two swapped positions, Michael had taken fifth from Jenkinson by half-distance. Sadly, the Honda rider was about to retire, sticking his hand up to warn the others of his engine having blown. Andrews lost a place to Ellison at the long, right-curving Goodwood bend, but took back the slot around the outside into Club.

However, Camier and Sykes were making progress, and these two moved past Laverty, Andrews and Ellison, as Stuart Easton moved into the picture on the MSS Discovery Kawasaki. Camier’s move on Sykes, on the inside into Club, put him in the position to head the race for fifth, with Ellison latching on behind the Suzuki rider as Andrews, Easton and Laverty lost touch.

Byrne had done enough to secure his 18th BSB win, and similarly Crutchlow in second - improving on his best result with the Suzuki last year. Haslam and Rutter still contested third, and the 36-year-old Ducati man took over the position when he dived inside the Honda at Segrave. Michael moved into a secure third by the finish, and Haslam was fourth. He would explain that the right side of his rear Pirelli tyre had suffered on the high speed track, stopping him from mounting a better challenge to the podium men.

Camier’s recovery from ninth early on saw him take fifth, just in front of Sykes and Ellison. Andrews was next, and first Yamaha finisher; then came Easton, the first Kawasaki finisher. Michael Laverty had gone from fifth to tenth at the flag, from Emmett, John Laverty, Tristan Palmer (TENA Honda), McConnell, Guy Martin (Hydrex Honda), Scott Smart (Hawk Kawasaki) and first-timer Watanabe.

Conditions remained dry, but it was brighter for race two. This time Byrne retained his lead, but it was a battle with Haslam in the first few corners, lost by the pole sitter. Rutter ran third, and Harris soon took fourth from Sykes, ahead of Crutchlow. Andrews was in trouble early as he had to cruise out of the race with bike problems. No such concern for Harris, who was quick to take third from Rutter, as Crutchlow took fifth from Sykes, ahead of John Laverty, Michael Laverty, Camier, Easton, McConnell and Emmett.

Byrne repeated his earlier pass at Cobb to take the lead back from Haslam, as the first three started to ease clear of Rutter and the rest. Racing for the only team that had used Pirelli tyres last year, Harris followed up his promise from race one as he overtook Haslam for second. Leon didn’t want to accept that, and he pushed the Honda into a narrow gap inside the Yamaha at the right-hand entry to Club Chicane. The late braking contest meant Harris went out wide for the corner, and he had to go round the run-off barrier to rejoin on the start-finish straight. Haslam also missed the apex, and they both lost a few places.

This dramatic action had left Byrne clear in the lead, with Crutchlow having sped past Rutter and now in second. Sykes was into fourth, but with Haslam and Harris soon on his case, and Michael Laverty losing touch. More serious drama was to come, as Haslam overtook Sykes on the inside at Campbell. The front of the Suzuki was tagged by the rear of the Honda rounding Cobb, with Sykes’ machine flipped into an outward and upward spin and crash. Harris was following and got collected by the Rizla machine, and it could have been kinder to the Yamaha man. Haslam continued unaffected, but the race was quickly stopped with the red flag, after six of twenty laps.

The grid for the restarted race was taken from positions after lap five, which meant Sykes could go out on his spare Suzuki from P4. Harris was not able to race, but thankfully was not seriously hurt. Meanwhile, Byrne’s handy lead over Crutchlow and the rest was of course nullified. Rutter would restart from third.

Undaunted, Sykes took the lead this time, from Crutchlow, Rutter, Haslam, Byrne, Camier, Easton, Michael and John Laverty, McConnell, Palmer and Watanabe. Rutter would soon move up to second, but Crutchlow took it back on the power through Woodham Hill. He used the same advantage and soon enough did the same thing to Sykes at the same place, going into the lead. With Rutter and Byrne behind the apparently slower Suzuki, Cal was able to start building an advantage over the two podium-finishing Ducati men.

Sykes held second only until Rutter got through on his inside rounding Goodwood. Byrne was back to his favourite move as he relegated the Suzuki rider at Cobb, showing his hand in apology, perhaps with the earlier crash in mind. By this stage Haslam had parked the Honda in the pits, only able to watch his team-mate leading the race as his own title hopes had a rocky start. Camier had been in a close fifth as his Airwaves partner passed Sykes, but the 21-year-old was also destined not to score. Michael Laverty would therefore be up to P5, and he led Easton, James Ellison, McConnell, John Laverty, Watanabe and Palmer.

The late stages saw Crutchlow in a safe lead with the rapid HM Plant Honda, but there was a race on for second between the Ducati pair. It was Cobb once again where Byrne would overtake, and this time it was quite a tight one as he went past Rutter. They finished in this order, with a big margin back to Michael Laverty and then Easton, James Ellison, and with Sykes back to eighth, from Martin, McConnell, John Laverty, Smart, Palmer, Watanabe, Dean Ellison (Co-ordit Yamaha), Martin Jessopp (Riders Honda) and Malcolm Ashley (ARP Kawasaki). Jenkinson had also crashed out.

Back on a Ducati Superbike after four years away, Shane Byrne added to his fifteen BSB wins with the marque (out of seventeen in total). With second as well on the 1098R, he looked good for his billing as potential champion, although there are a few guys looking to challenge that. Airwaves team-mate Leon Camier has a bit more to do than we saw here, but we’ve already seen his potential on last year’s Honda.

In 2004, Michael Rutter won his first BSB race for the HRC-backed HM Plant Honda team, but Ryuichi Kiyonari took 21 attempts with them, Jonathan Rea took 12 attempts, and Karl Harris didn’t manage it at all in a full season with the team. Cal Crutchlow, at the start of just his second BSB season, took an assured victory in only his second outing for HM Plant Honda. The promising 22-year-old had previously won a Junior Superstock race in 2002, four R6 Cup races in 2003, and eight British Supersport races in 2005-06. Curiously enough, none of these had come at Thruxton. Surely there will be Superbike wins to follow at other circuits.

Rutter had only been on the BSB podium twice since July 2005, and it was the month before that when he last did it twice in the same meeting. The switch to the new Ducati clearly suited him, remembering that he had won eleven times previously on their 1000cc twin machines, and been a title challenger in 2002. His first British Superbike podium result dates back fifteen years, when Crutchlow was just seven years old...

Most unlucky was Karl Harris, with the Yamaha rider looking like he might have been a double podium finisher. Rob Mac’s team has only had one podium since Tommy Hill’s 2005 race win at Cadwell Park, but their current rider already looks capable of improving on their best championship position for a few years, which is eighth. Meanwhile, encouraging early form for Tom Sykes, James Ellison, Michael Laverty and Stuart Easton; disappointment for Leon Haslam; and early days on the learning curve for ‘Atsu’ Watanabe.

Standings after two races: Byrne and Crutchlow 45; Rutter 32; Sykes, J Ellison and M Laverty 19; Easton 18; Haslam 13; Camier 11; J Laverty 10.

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