Dates: Friday 24th Practice, Saturday 25th Qualifying,
Sunday 26th Race Day. See Below for detailed schedule of events.
For more information, visit the
Knockhill website.
Superbike: Kiyo scores a
hat-trick!
Ryuichi Kiyonari and Michael Rutter continued their
domination of the 2005 Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Knockhill
today. The HM Plant Honda Racing team-mates took a double one-two with
Kiyonari securing his third double victory of the season – an impressive
hat-trick by anyone’s standards!
The 22-year-old Japanese rider led both 30-lap races from
start to finish to take a maximum haul of 50 points. The factory Fireblade
rider has now won 80 per cent of the races that he has started and closed
the gap on his championship leading team-mate to 43 points.
The first race was a HM Plant Honda Racing benefit. Kiyonari
continually broke the late Steve Hislop’s outgoing lap record. His fastest
time of 0:49.787 on lap six was just one of many sub-50 second laps – a
truly outstanding performance on the HRC-supported Fireblade in front of
15,000 sun-drenched fans.
Rutter was in hot pursuit of his team-mate in the early
stages. However, the 32-year-old Midlander was unable to sustain the Saitama
star’s lap record pace. He settled into a good rhythm on his HM Plant Honda
and pulled out a sizeable gap on third-placed Michael Laverty on a Stobart
Honda. This was a superb result for Honda and its all-conquering CBR1000RR
Fireblade.
The same outcome was almost inevitable in race two. Kiyonari
shot into an early lead, but Rutter applied more pressure in the first half
of the race and broke the lap record on lap three with a blistering time of
0:49.651. However, the number six HM Plant Honda responded with an amazingly
consistent display of inch perfect riding over the 1.3-mile Fife circuit.
Michael Rutter: “I tried to keep it going in both races but
there was nothing that I could do about Kiyo today – he was unbeatable! I
may have a significant points advantage but I can’t keep letting him win
like this. My plan was to try to get in front of him in the early laps but
that was difficult after he got the holeshot in both races. I’m gutted that
I wasn’t able to make more of an impression, but our results show what a
good package HM Plant Honda Racing and Michelin have given us this year.”
Ryuichi Kiyonari: “I managed to get a fast start to both
races. After that Michael rode hard and put me under a lot of pressure. He’s
leading the championship and riding well on the CBR1000RR Fireblade. I knew
that he would try to force me into an error and this made it very difficult
for me. However, I am very happy with my performance today and I would like
to thank everyone associated with HM Plant Honda Racing and the British fans
for their invaluable support.”
Race one: 1. R. Kiyonari (HM Plant Honda Racing) 25:04.260;
2. M. Rutter (HM Plant Honda Racing) +12.538; 3. M. Laverty (Honda) +24.692;
4. G. Richards (Kawasaki) +26.361; 5. L. Haslam (Ducati) +26.732; 6. G.
Lavilla (Ducati) +27.393; 7. J. Reynolds (Suzuki) +30.496; 8. K. Harris
(Honda-Racing.co.uk) +38.127; 9. G. Mason (Honda) +40.659; 10. D. Thomas
(Kawasaki) +41.473
Fastest lap: 0:49.787 – Kiyonari (new lap record)
Race two: 1. R. Kiyonari (HM Plant Honda Racing) 25:06.287;
2. M. Rutter (HM Plant Honda Racing) +7.122; 3. G. Lavilla (Ducati) +15.522;
4. M. Laverty (Honda) +16.690; 5. L. Haslam (Ducati) +17.473; 6. J. Reynolds
(Suzuki) +19.148; 7. G. Richards (Kawasaki) +21.524; 8. J. Haydon (Suzuki)
+25.697; 9. J. Rea (Red Bull Honda) +26.633; 10. D. Thomas (Kawasaki)
+27.074
Fastest lap: 0:49.651 – Rutter (new lap record)
Championship points: 1. Rutter – 275; 2. Kiyonari – 232; 3.
Lavilla – 216; 4. Richards – 160; 5. Haslam – 152; 6. Harris – 115; 7.
Thomas – 97; 8. Laverty – 93; 9. Mason – 82; 10. Emmett – 79
Supersport: Podium in the
Highlands for Northpoint Honda
British Supersport Championship - It was another dramatic
weekend for the Northpoint Honda Racing team consisting of 20-year-old Craig
Jones and 19-year-old Cal Crutchlow. Jones once again secured a healthy
podium position with a third place whilst main Championship rival Tom Sykes
crashed out. Only five points now separate the top three in the Championship
standings, the closest the British Supersport Class has been for years.
Jones still heads up the Championship table with Crutchlow lying in a strong
fifth position.
Round 7 of the Championship was held at Knockhill Race
Circuit, Scotland and the race was a mist of thrills and excitement for the
two Northpoint riders. From his fall at Croft, Crutchlow is still suffering
with seriously damaged nerves in his arm, which has left him without the use
of his right bicep muscle. Despite this the youngster from Coventry
qualified 7th on the grid with Jones in 8th.
Crutchlow was so eager to get off the start that he incurred
a jump start penalty of 20 seconds which put him at the very back of the
field. Meanwhile Jones had got caught up in the incident between Tom Sykes
and Jay Vincent. Fortunately Jones managed to stay upright and rejoin
towards the back of the pack. Getting his head down the Peterborough based
rider quickly carved his way through the pack and managed to get himself
from 27th position to 8th by lap 10.
A crash at the Hairpin forced the race to be stopped on lap
14 and a 17-lap restart was called. The riders lined up in the order they
had crossed the line when the race was stopped, Jones in 8th and Crutchlow
in 20th. As the lights changed the two riders gained fantastic starts and
both were working their way through the hounding field. As the pairing
forced their way through the pack, Jones once again found himself on the
podium for the fifth time this year. Crutchlow made impressive progress and
secured a creditable 8th place.
Commenting Jones said 'Obviously I would have liked to have
gone for the win but considering the circumstances I'm happy with a podium
as I could have ended up in the gravel with Tom and Jay. I just wanted to
get my head down in the restart and try and make some time up on the
leaders. There are not many passing places at Knockhill so I had to be
slightly wary. I just have to continue to remain consistent for the rest of
the season.'
Crutchlow said 'It was a tough race and I knew after the
jump-start penalty I had my work cut out. It was fortunate for me that the
race was stopped as it allowed me to rejoin the pack on an equal playing
field. It was a strange race today but I'm happy with the result and still
have a good position in the Championship. Hopefully by Snetterton I might
have started to regain some feeling back into my bicep.'
The next round is at Snetterton Circuit on the 10th July.
| Knockhill Lap Records |
| 1.2986 mile circuit |
|
|
|
|
|
| Class |
Rider |
Mfg. |
Time |
Speed |
Date |
|
Superbike |
Steve Hislop |
Ducati |
50.053 |
93.40mph |
July 7, 2002 |
| Supersport |
Michael Laverty |
Honda |
52.804 |
88.53mph |
July 7, 2002 |
| Superstock |
Chris Burns |
Suzuki |
51.911 |
90.05mph |
July 7, 2002 |
Bennetts BSB Championship
Knockhill
24-26 June 2005
| Schedule |
| |
|
|
| Friday |
| TIME |
EVENT |
Description |
| 11.00 – 11.40 |
British Supersport |
Free Practice 1 |
| 11.50 – 12.40 |
British Superbike |
Free Practice 1 |
| 12.50 – 13.10 |
British 125cc Group A |
Free Practice 1 |
| 13.15 – 13.35 |
British 125cc Group B
Interval |
Free Practice 1 |
| 14.20 – 15.00 |
British Supersport |
Free Practice 2 |
| 15.10 – 16.00 |
British Superbike |
Free Practice 2 |
| 16.10 – 16.30 |
British 125cc Group A |
Free Practice 2 |
| 16.35 – 16.55 |
British 125cc Group B |
Free Practice 2 |
| 17.05 – 17.30 |
National Superstock Championship |
Free Practice |
| 17.40 – 18.05 |
National Superstock Cup |
Free Practice |
| |
|
|
| Saturday |
| 09.00 – 09.25 |
British 125cc Group A |
Qualifying 1 |
| 09.30 – 09.55 |
British 125cc Group B |
Qualifying 1 |
| 10.00 – 10.35 |
British
Supersport |
Qualifying 1 |
| 10.45 – 11.35 |
British Superbike |
Qualifying 1 |
| 11.45 – 12.10 |
Virgin Mobile Cup |
Free Practice |
| 12.15 – 12.40 |
National Superstock Championship |
Qualifying 1 |
| 12.45 – 13.10 |
National Superstock Cup
Interval |
Qualifying 1 |
| 13.55 – 14.30 |
British Supersport |
Qualifying 2 |
14.40 - 15.30
15.40 - 16.05
16.10 - 16.35
16.40 - 17.05
17.10 - 17.35
17.40 - 18.05 |
British Superbike
British 125cc Group A
British 125cc Group B
Virgin Mobile Cup
National Superstock Championship
National Superstock Cup |
Qualifying 2
Qualifying 2
Qualifying 2
Qualifying
Qualifying 2
Qualifying 2 |
| |
|
|
| Sunday |
| 09.00 – 09.10 |
National Superstock Cup |
Warm Up |
| 09.15 - 09.25 |
National Superstock Championship |
Warm up |
| 09.30 - 09.45 |
British Superbike |
Warm up |
| 09.50 – 10.00 |
Virgin Mobile Cup |
Warm up |
10.05 – 10.15
10.20 - 10.30
10.40 - 11.20 |
British Supersport
British 125cc
Pit Walk |
Warm up |
| 11.35 |
Metzeler National Superstock Cup |
17 laps |
| 12.15 |
Metzeler National Superstock Championship |
26 laps |
| 13.15 |
2005
Bennetts British Superbike Championship |
30 laps |
| 14.05 |
Virgin Mobile Cup |
22 laps |
| 14.50 |
Metabo British Supersport Championship |
28 laps |
| 15.45 |
2005 Bennetts British Superbike Championship |
30 laps |
| 16.35 |
British 125GP Championship |
24 laps |
|
|
