Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128374
Kiyonari Wins BSB Again ""ere is no circuit in Engfand (aster than setup is such an endless compromise. The risks of crashing are exponentially increased as he moved up from 12th at this awesomely fast circuit. His quickest circuit of I: I5.699 beat the previous best set by the late Steve Hislop in 2000. Just behind the fast but frustrated Lavilla, faster-starting Lavilla right behind Kiyonari, with Rutter third. Hence the fourthplaced Haslam and a given the fast nature of the direction changes and the tarmac imperfections - and the wind Leon Haslam secured fourth, sliding around as he tried to hold off Emmett but making it mass of racing humanity, consisting from qualifying returned for race day. Pre-race, it had claimed a couple of top stick by the merest fraction of a second - of Richards, Thomas, .027 of a second to be precise. names, most notably championship leader and Brands Hatch double race winner A forceful ride from Karl Harris, on a non- Emmett and Harris, got back onto more I Thruxton. There are also none with more bumps, and maybe none where race Ryuichi Kiyonari. The HM Plant Honda rider was a victim of the gusts, falling off at the 120 mph Allard Corner and hurting his ankle badly enough to be fitted with a protective innatable cast. It made little difference to the outcome, but it was clearly a painful handicap - and it was on his gearshift foot, too. In the first race, the dominance shown factory British-prepared Honda, pushed him to fifth, after some excellent on-track confidence in the early laps especially. Rizla Suzuka rider Scott Smart was a disappointed seventh, with the Hawk Kawasakis of Dean Thomas and Glen Richards in eighth and ninth, respectively. Some other big names had small returns in race one, as John Reynolds, from row five, than just the trail of the top three jackrabbits. When the pace car left the scene on lap I3, after two complete tours at a sedate pace, the race settled down again as ankle. His win came after he made an out- ended up 14th to score only two points. He would pull out of race two, his championship challenge looking as fractured as his leg. He was, fully deservedly, able to hold his head high for even trying. For Jeremy McWilliams, his tough intro- rageous pass on the early leader Sean Emmett, who would finish fifth. duction to the British scene continued in race one, as he failed to make a single lap on again his Stobart Honda as he highsided out of the Lavilla, his new alltime best of I: I5.577 by the HM Plant Honda pairing of Kiyonari and Michael Rutter continued with a one· two, a remarkable ride for Kiyonari after his obvious difficulty walking on his injured Race one was [0 be another Michelin benefit, just like Brands Hatch, the French final turn. tire manufacturer's World Superbike-sized Gathering gray clouds threatened to halt efforts paying off after a year of practice in the tough (and generally Dunlop-dominated) British series. The fastest Dunlop rider, despite a terrible start, was Gregorio the smooth running of race two, but it was not those that caused the midrace appearance of the safety car - it was a crash and subsequent fire on tracks ide. Lavilla, on the first of two Airwaves Ducatis. He set a new lap record on the fourth lap As the leaders lined up astern of the safety car, the bunch closed up again with the a: w Tunisia Rally' winner Cyril Despres. '" :> w "- :i ~ ~ I "- Despres wins Tunisia Rally With his second-place finish in the eighth and final stage of the Tunisia Rally on Sunday, April 10, KTM's Cyril Despres captured the overall in the race beating final-stage winner Carlo Degavardo by over 58 minutes. Degavardo beat Despres in the final stage by SO seconds, with American Andy Grider riding his KTM to a third-place finish, a result that earned him third overall in his first-ever Tunisia Rally. Grider's KTM teammate, Chris Blais, finished fourth in the final stage and fourth overall. 12 APRIL 20, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS CAI\tFUL ~ YOu JUST HURT MY ~IEL"~G s... the top three again made themselves dots in the other riders' horizon. The lap record was claimed by once eventual second-place man at an average over 112 mph. With Kiyonari making a special push on the final lap, he took the win by .444 of a second. Easily the best Ducati and Dunlop pairing, Lavilla surely pushed himself into an undroppable posi- tion in the GSE Racing/Airwaves Ducati setup, despite the fact that the injured James Haydon is the full-time rider. Gordon Ritchie