GREGORIO Lavilla thrilled the Croft crowd with a battling victory in testing conditions during yesterday's British Superbike action.

The Spaniard, riding for the Airwaves Ducati team, won race two and secured third in the first race around the Darlington-area track to move to within 45 points of championship leader Michael Rutter.

Upwards of 30,000 people flocked to the circuit for the two day event and, despite the somewhat inclement weather, they were glad they were there to witness what turned out to be a dramatic climax.

With Ryuichi Kiyonari heading team-mate Rutter in a HM Plant Honda one-two for the opening sortee, many people expected another dominant performance from the Japanese outfit in the second.

But, thanks to the rain and a rider oozing guts and determination, Lavilla ensured it was one of the most exciting races to date.

Making the most of a re-start - heavy rain brought out the red flags after nine laps with Kiyonari leading from Rutter while the Spanish rider was back in sixth - Lavilla made a move, and Glen Richards joined the front-running scrap before Kiyonari nosed in front.

At the hairpin, Lavilla barged his way into the lead and held on to take his second victory.

While the to and fro action on the track was edge-of-the-seat stuff for fans, for Lavilla it was anything but.

"Obviously, it is good to race but you are not enjoying it at the time," he told EchoSPORT. "You have to be clever. You don't know whether at the next corner it's going to be wet and you are doing 200-220mph.

"If it's wet you are dead, because you are right there and then you crash. It is not enjoyable. Maybe the spectators are enjoying it but for me it's a hard job!"

Rutter, meanwhile, was just glad to have beaten Kiyonari, thanks to a late overtaking move, after trailing him in the opener.

"The conditions were tricky and it was not enjoyable whatsoever," he said. "It was just a case of trying to stop on and try get some points. The big thing for me was beating Kiyo. He ran a bit wide into one of the corners at the back and I was able to put the move on him.

"I wanted to win, definitely, but you could have gone down so easily. If he (Lavilla) made a mistake, you never know, but he didn't."

There were no happy returns for defending champion John Reynolds on the Rizla Suzuki - he went down in the opening race and finished 12th in the second.

Marty Nutt and Steve Brogan shared the victories in the British Superbike Cup.

* Darlington's Guy Wilks enjoyed an eventful Rally of Turkey, finishing the event but suffering no end of misfortune along the way.

On Special Stage Five of the opening day the Suzuki driver hit a rock which damaged the steering arm and although he attempted a repair he found himself over the time limit by the end.

Wilks restarted the second day under the Super Rally system, which allows drivers to have their cars recovered to service and restart the following leg with a penalty of five minutes for every stage missed, but he was no luckier, suffering a gearbox failure.

He said: "Out of 18 stages on this rally we only did eight, which I think tells the story of the event! We were just incredibly unlucky.

"It's obviously very frustrating and difficult to cope with when it happens. Having said that, I'm not too bothered. I know we have the speed and the car to do the business on the next Junior World Rally Championship round in Greece - which is when it really counts."

Published: 06/06/2005