Rutter and Byrne share Thruxton victories

Michael Rutter took an overall win in a two-part MCN British Superbike race one at Thruxton today ahead of Steve Hislop and Sean Emmett in third.

Rain called a halt just as pole man Rutter had built up a lead of around a second over Hislop and Emmett around the super fast Hampshire circuit.

After the re-start

Hislop hit the front and stayed there to the chequered flag, but he couldn’t pull out the necessary lead over Rutter for the win.

Rutter told MCN: ” I knew I had Hizzy on time, so I wasn’t worried about overtaking him on the road. I knew I could, but I was just happy to take the overall win. ”

And Emmett proved he’s not about to be written out of championship contention with a strong debut on his Virgin Yamaha R1.

Emmett said: ” I’m really pleased, I’ve been confident all weekend, this has definitely kept my championship hopes alive. ”

1)M Rutter 2)S Hislop 3)S Emmett 4)J Reynolds 5)S Crafar 6)S Byrne 7)S Plater 8)G Richards 9)D Thomas 10)J Crawford

Race two went to Shane Byrne, who shadowed championship leader Steve Hislop until the final lap. Byrne got the better drive out of the final corner to take the win by 0.04s. Sean Emmett again claimed the final spot on the podium, ahead of new Virgin Yamaha teammate Steve Plater. Glen Richards took his Hawk Kawasaki to fifth ahead of Karl Harris.

Both Michael Rutter and John Reynolds had spent brief periods in the lead, but both fell victim to mechanical problems, with Rutter retiring his Ducati on lap 12, and Reynolds Suzuki finishing early on lap 15.

1)S Byrne 2)S Hislop 3)S Emmett 4)S Plater 5)G Richards 6)K Harris 7)S Crafar 8)D Thomas 9)J Crawford 10)M Burr