Plater and Kagayama share Oulton spoils

The British Superbike championship is yet to be decided after Steve Plater and Yukio Kagayma shared victories at Oulton Park, denying Shane Byrne the chance to clinch the title.

Race Two:

A Rizla Suzuki one-two kept John Reynold’s title hopes alive, although the order was not ideal, with Yukio Kagayama taking victory. Sean Emmett again finished third, finishing the podium positions.

Shane Byrne improved on his DNF in race one, with a solid fourth place, just pipping Steve Plater to the flag. Michael Rutter and teammate Leon Haslam took sixth and seventh. Glen Richards took eighth, Mark Heckles ninth, and Scott Smart was tenth.

1) Kagayama. 2) Reynolds. 3) Emmett. 4) Byrne. 5) Plater. 6) Rutter. 7) Haslam. 8) Richards. 9) Heckles. 10) Smart. 11) Wood. 12) Ellison. 13) Young. 14) Vincent. 15) Jackson. 16) Hobbs. 17) Corke. 18) Buckingham. 19) Goodall. 20) Walker. 21) Mainwaring. 22) Jones. 23) Thomas. 24) Nisill. 25) Ashley.

DNFs: Mason. Hitchcox. Williamson. Davis.

Race One:

Honda’s Steve Plater took a surprising victory at Oulton Park today, as championship leader Shane Byrne fails to finish.

The race had to be stopped on lap 12, after five riders all fell at Island bend over a number of laps. The number of crashes meant that no straw bales were left to protect riders if there should be a further incident, so the race had to be stopped.

Despite all five falling at an identical point on the track, the circuit was checked for any oil, and none was found.

Plater came from seventh on the grid to finish ahead of polesitter Yukio Kagayama on the Rizla Suzuki, and Sean Emmett on the ETI Racing Ducati. Fourth was Michael Rutter and fifth was Glen Richards.

Shane Byrne had to postpone his championship celebrations after falling at Lodge on lap 10, but his lead remains the same as nearest rival John Reynolds also failed to finish, retiring on lap 11.

1) Plater. 2) Kagayama. 3) Emmett. 4) Rutter. 5) Richards. 6) Smart. 7) Heckles. 8) Haslam. 9) Wood. 10) Ellison. 11) Young. 12) Jackson. 13) Hobbs. 14) Vincent. 15) Corke. 16) Medd. 17) Goodall. 18) Buckingham. 19) Davis. 20) Walker. 21) Ashley. 22) Mainwaring. 23) Nisill

DNFs: Mason. Reynolds. Williamson. Kirkham. Arnold. Byrne. Heath. Buckley. Giles. Jones. Thomas. Hitchcox.

Full report to follow later. Discuss these results on the British Superbike discussion board by following the link on the right.