BSB final results

British Superbikes Donington Park Race One Result

1 - Ryuichi Kiyonari - Honda - HM Plant Honda Racing - 32:05.596
2 - Michael Rutter - Honda - HM Plant Honda Racing - 32:16.577
3 - John Reynolds - Suzuki - Rizla Suzuki - 32:18.155
4 - Scott Smart - Kawasaki - Hawk Kawasaki - 32:20.765
5 - Sean Emmett - Ducati - Monstermob Ducati - 32:21.819
6 - Glen Richards - Kawasaki - Hawk Kawasaki - 32:26.356
7 - Dean Thomas - Ducati - Sendo Ducati Dienza - 32:32.829
8 - James Haydon - Yamaha - Virgin Mobile Samsung - 32:39.185
9 - Gary Mason - Yamaha - Virgin Mobile Samsung - 32:45.381
10 - Tommy Hill - Yamaha - Virgin Mobile Samsung - 32:45.469

British Superbikes Donington Park Race Two Result

1 - Ryuichi Kiyonari - Honda - HM Plant Honda Racing - 30:57.801
2 - Michael Rutter - Honda - HM Plant Honda Racing - 31:09.663
3 - Sean Emmett - Ducati - Monstermob Ducati - 31:20.863
4 - Scott Smart - Kawasaki - Hawk Kawasaki - 31:21.995
5 - Yukio Kagayama - Suzuki - Rizla Suzuki - 31:22.322
6 - John Reynolds - Suzuki - Rizla Suzuki - 31:24.072
7 - Dean Thomas - Ducati - Sendo Ducati Dienza - 31:24.985
8 - James Haydon - Yamaha - Virgin Mobile Samsung - 31:31.665
9 - James Ellison - Yamaha - Jentin Racing - 31:31.987
10 - Steve Plater - Yamaha - Virgin Mobile Samsung - 31:34.952

Championship Points After Race One:

1 - John Reynolds (Suzuki) - 446
2 - Michael Rutter (Honda) - 417
3 - Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki) - 335
4 - Scott Smart (Kawasaki) - 330
5 - Sean Emmett (Ducati) - 315
6 - Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) - 234
7 - Dean Thomas (Ducati) - 193
8 - James Haydon (Yamaha) - 181
9 - Tommy Hill (Yamaha) - 137
10 - Glen Richards (Kawasaki) - 125

Jamie Ellison had already won the privateer's cup last weekend.

So Suzuki finally win the championship. It's been a long time coming and
well deserved.

If there's a story in all this I think it's the relatively poor showing
of Yamaha over the season and the achievements of Scott Smart and the
Kawasaki team on a severely limited budget. And I suppose that Honda HRC
with a factory rider, factory bikes and Michelins still couldn't win.
Kiyonari came good right at the end of the season. Then there's
Monstermob going from winning everything to 5th and the disappearance of
any credible competition from Ducati or the Ducati privateers.

All the factories got wins. But the real privateers didn't really
feature. Dean Thomas got close a few times as did Jamie Ellison but I
don't think either of them got a podium all year although Dean had quite
a few front row starts.

It was a good year with some great racing. On many weekends we got a
huge contrast between MotoGP, WSB and BSB. BSB was often the most
exciting racing with stupidly powerful bikes and aggressive riding on
stupidly tight and nadgery tracks. Today's TV contrast between the wide
open spaces of Motegi and last week's Oulton Park was a graphic example.

It seems likely that Reynolds will sign for another year or two with
Rizla Suzuki. But most of the other places and teams are up in the air.
Karl Harris gets an SB Honda ride next year for winning 600ss and
Richard Wren gets a Yamaha ride for winning the R6 Cup. It's at least
possible that Kiyonari, Scott Smart and Kagayama will all end up in WSB
next year. But it's equally possible that they are all in BSB again.
There really wasn't any single person that was completely dominant and
young enough to automatically go to a World Championship with the
possible exception of Jamie Ellison.

 

Yes indeed. One way of looking at this was that Honda had a genuine
clutch problem in the early races which made the bike difficult to get
off the line. Rutter was frequently on the front row, then mid pack and
fighting his way through. He had a couple of bad tyre related mistakes.
One DNF through losing the front while leading. And one DNF due to a
crazy decision to be the only people on the grid on full wets for a
drying track. In mid season he seemed to lose heart a bit. Allegedly he
had a good talking to before Cadwell and then went out and dominated the
first race.

I don't have much to back this up, but I've never liked Tuxworth, the
HRC manager. He may be a good administrator, but I don't think he knows
how to get the best out of his riders. Rutter I think is one of those
riders who stays calm and just doesn't seem to get fired up. In which
case Tuxworth should have been on his case every weekend and I don't
think he was.

Back to your point. There really wasn't much evidence of the Michelin
crew finding tyre choice difficult. There probably were races where they
were slightly behind and definitely races where they were in front. With
the limited practice time that's quite an achievement. They know Brands,
Donington and Silverstone. Croft is new to everybody. Mondello is pretty
new. Several races were wet where there are fewer choices.

Put all that together against a very determined Reynolds on a very
competitive Suzuki and Rutter spent the whole year trying to catch up.

Kiyonari looked good at the start, then he broke a shoulder-bone. He
seemed to lose confidence for a while, but then really came good at
Oulton Park (2nd visit) and Donington. Another factor is that Kagayama's
English is minimal, Kiyonari's is non-existent. Being stuck in Louth
(the HRC headquarters in the back of beyond) must have been seriously
strange even with Tady Okada being around some of the time. Haga turned
up Oulton so maybe having a few more Japanese to talk to fired him up.