Username
Password
Leon Haslam’s first 2008 Superbike win at Knockhil

© Raceline Photography
By Dan Moakes
September 9 2008
Airwaves Ducati rider Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne was still in control of the 2008 Bennetts British Superbike Championship, but round seven at Oulton Park had seen a double win for Rizla Suzuki and rider Tom Sykes. With an advantage of almost 100 points, Byrne could afford to ease off a touch, but you would never expect him to make it easy for the young guns.

Round eight was at Knockhill, to the north of the Forth Bridge in Scotland, where the circuit is quite short but still with a variety of challenges. One of the frequent challenges at this venue is the weather, and so it proved this year. Qualifying was held in mostly wet conditions, although most of the usual front runners emerged on top. Byrne, a four-time BSB winner at the track, equalled his worst grid slot of the season but was still better than most in third. Ducati team-mate Leon Camier was back in action and would start sixth.

Taking the tenth BSB pole position of his career was HM Plant Honda rider Leon Haslam, but that meant his first of this year. Championship contender Cal Crutchlow was fifth on the team’s other CBR1000RR FireBlade, and the 22-year-old was wearing a Craig Jones helmet in tribute to the friend who’d lost his life so recently. Second place went to the experienced Michael Rutter on the NW200 Ducati, with Byrne followed by the first Suzuki of Relentless/TAS rider Michael Laverty.

Crutchlow and Camier shared row two with Sykes (seventh) and James Ellison (eighth for Hydrex Bike Animal Honda). The Yamaha of Karl Harris was next, followed by Tristan Palmer (TENA Honda), Billy McConnell (MSS Kawasaki), Tom Grant (SMT Honda) and Gary Mason (Quay Honda). In P14 was wildcard entry Kenny Gilbertson, with his Astro Racing Kawasaki. In the continued absence of Stuart Easton (this time replaced at MSS by Steve Mercer), Kenny was the only Scot in the field. Guy Martin (Hydrex) and Atsushi Watanabe (Rizla) were next.

Sykes had followed up on Oulton with some good performances at Brands Hatch in the World Superbike event. Meanwhile, Jentin Yamaha rider Simon Andrews would be racing at Knockhill with an injured hand. And after a couple of incidents in practice and warm-up, Byrne would take to the grid with a painful back. Perhaps of more concern were the condtions for race one, which was declared a wet race but with a dry line already in evidence on the track, and with the sun out. Riders went for slick tyres, and problems for Martin saw him start from the pitlane.

Rain master Rutter took the lead away from the line, followed by Haslam and Sykes. Tom moved up one on the outside of the left hander at Duffus Dip, at the bottom of the dive down from Seat Curves, the right-handed first turn. James Ellison led Byrne, Camier, Crutchlow, Harris, Michael Laverty, Grant, Palmer, Watanabe, Gilbertson, Mercer and Leon Morris. Initially, Rutter and Sykes held a small margin over Haslam and the rest, but it would be the first five to break away from the main group.

Sykes took the lead from Rutter at the final right-handed hairpin, formerly Taylors and now Real Radio, with the uphill gradient round the apex. Tom went to the inside of Michael going in, but on the damp surface went a touch wide and allowed the Ducati man to force his way back through on the inside going out. Behind Haslam and Ellison, Byrne was setting an early fastest lap, whilst Crutchlow passed Camier to lead the pursuing group.

Crutchlow’s progress was short lived, however. The Honda man crashed out at the right crest Clark Curve, now known as Carlube, and was clearly not happy with himself. Meanwhile, Sykes went inside Rutter for Seat, but again sent himself a bit wide and saw the other man go back around him at the left-hander at Duffus Dip. The move worked successfully next time he tried it, and the Rizla Suzuki GSX-R1000 led the race at the circuit where the team had their only win of 2006 (and none since then until this year in BSB).

Sykes led Rutter and Haslam at one-third distance, with Ellison and Byrne still tracking them. But HM Plant Honda had more misfortune with Haslam having to exit the race. He was seen rejoining the track at Butchers, the right-hander before an uphill chicane. Leon continued on his way, but not at full speed and only as far as the pits - he’d had an electrical fault with the bike. But Sykes had no such worry, and was speeding off with a new fastest lap that took him clear of the others. As the track dried, he made it three wins in a row.

Rutter had then been followed by Ellison, but only until Byrne put the Honda back to fourth with a move on the inside at the hairpin. After that Shane chased his former team-mate, and he got through to second on the inside at Seat. However, the 31-year-old then waved his right leg at Rutter, letting him back past on the inside at McIntyre’s (or Scotsman Corner), the right-hander after Duffus Dip. Michael waved his thanks, and it seems as though Shane had either yielded because he’d passed too forcefully or had seen a yellow flag somewhere.

But Byrne then overtook Rutter again at the hairpin, this time leaving him to deal with the rapid Ellison, who was now the fastest man out there. James used a slipstream to help him past Michael for turn one, then tried to close the gap to Shane. Byrne took second though, with Ellison close behind and Rutter still in touch. After the demise of Crutchlow, the next spot had been between Camier, Harris and Michael Laverty. Karl dropped back behind the other two, who were together across the line, the order unchanged.

Andrews had come through well to eighth, with Grant dropping behind Palmer and Mason, and finishing ahead of Mercer. Mason equalled his best 2008 result, with Grant and Mercer improving theirs, as did Martin Jessopp, in P14 behind David Johnson. The last point went to Chris Burns. Other casualties had been Gilbertson and Smart, who crashed in separate incidents; and Watanabe, who was hit by McConnell coming inside him at the hairpin. Atsu looked to be hurt, while Billy got on again and continued his race but only briefly.

The general situation was very different by the time of race two, with the rain falling and the track wet. Slick tyres were not in order at this stage. This time Haslam stayed in front away from the start, and in fact was pulling away almost immediately. Rutter, Byrne, Crutchlow, Sykes and Harris followed him, with Camier soon to pass McConnell for seventh. Behind Michael Laverty, Palmer took the next spot from James Ellison, then came Gilbertson, Mason, Andrews and Martin.

Ducati riders Byrne and Rutter got into another battle, with Shane going through in a move on the inside at Seat. Michael responded by getting by on the inside at Scotsman, but went wide and let the former champion complete the pass. Haslam established a decent lead for himself as he chased his first win of the season, and it was Honda and Ducati at the front as Byrne, Rutter and Crutchlow led the pursuit.

However, one-third of the way into the race the tricky circuit conditions led to a crash that caused the race to be stopped. Grant was turning in to Seat, just behind and to the inside of Gilbertson, when another rider flew into him from behind having lost control. Gilbertson also went off track to the outside where the road falls down the hill and also went down. As well as the crash itself, damage to the safety fence was the cause of the red flag.

The race was restarted with intermediate conditions now in play, sunny weather and dry lines emerging on track. The new race grid was of course in the order at the time of the stoppage, but this time Haslam lost out to Rutter and Byrne at the start, with Harris and Camier tagging on behind the leading Honda. It didn’t stay that way for long, as Byrne passed Rutter on the inside into Butchers, the right-hander after Scotsman and leading into the uphill chicane. Haslam followed on by taking second on the inside of Rutter for the final hairpin.

Byrne, Haslam, Rutter, Harris and Camier led Sykes, McConnell, Andrews, Michael Laverty, James Ellison, Palmer, Chris Burns, Mercer, Mason and Aaron Zanotti. Crutchlow was further back and had a lot to do. But now Rutter lost another place to Harris, with the pass coming at Seat. As the field began to space out, Trimrite/Brookspeed Ducati rider Leon Morris, a runner in the ranks of privateer Cup competitors, crashed out.

Byrne was initially getting away from Haslam, who was also doing the same to Harris and the rest. Sykes got past Camier and moved off after Harris and Rutter. And James Ellison passed Andrews on the inside at the hairpin, attacking Camier thereafter and soon getting past. James achieved a clear sixth, leaving the other pair to race it out for seventh, which they did. McConnell was next, and meanwhile Crutchlow was making progress further back.

Haslam set a couple of new fastest laps, which naturally brought him closer to Byrne as they started to come up behind backmarkers. However, it wasn’t other riders that caused any misfortune, as the Seat corner saw Byrne suffer a big crash, apparently caused by a locked front brake. The medics were quickly on the scene, and the race stopped again. Shane was not badly hurt, but he didn’t appear in the race results, which were now declared. Apart from Byrne’s accident, Zanotti and Tom Tunstall had both had off-track moments in the tricky conditions.

Haslam was therefore a winner for the first time this year. It was not the way he wanted to win, but he felt he would have been challenging Byrne anyway. Rutter had repassed Harris and duly took second, saying that help from GSE (Airwaves) with the Ducati’s settings had been a factor in his encouraging Knockhill form. Harris made it home for third, which was his first podium result of the season, as it was for Yamaha, and which also meant that six different men had stood on the podium in the two BSB races.

Sykes was fourth, from James Ellison and Andrews. Crutchlow’s part two race had seen him need to come from outside the top fifteen, but he had made successive passes and wound up seventh. Camier was next, from McConnell, and tenth man Burns was also the Cup winner. This was his best result of the season to date, and it was therefore the best ever BSB result for the MV Agusta F4 1000R. Mercer was in P11, also a best, from Palmer, Smart, Martin, Watanabe and Jessopp. Smart had been flagged to stop because his bike was smoking, but had been saved by the red flag.

It had been a day of mixed fortunes, and Shane Byrne’s crash meant he missed out on a podium result for the first time in the season. A worse day for Cal Crutchlow enabled ‘Shakey’ to build his overall lead up to an impressive 110 points. Despite Leon Haslam’s race two victory, the meeting as a whole was best for Tom Sykes (first and fourth), Michael Rutter (second and fourth) and James Ellison (third and fifth). It was also encouraging for Rob McElnea’s Yamaha team, with Karl Harris getting their first podium since Tommy Hill at Snetterton two years ago. Can he join the leaders up there next time?

Standings after sixteen races: Byrne 332; Crutchlow 222; Sykes 214; Haslam 199; Camier 179; J Ellison 177; Rutter 174; M Laverty 110; Andrews 108; Palmer 75; McConnell 70; Harris 69.


View a Printer Friendly version of this Story.

Bookmark or share this story with: