Sykes And Haslam Win, Byrne Takes a Tumble
Tom Sykes and Leon Haslam took the victories in a dramatic, incident packed eighth round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Knockhill in which series leader Shane Byrne, despite a heavy tumble in the second race, still increased his lead in the title stakes.

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Tom Sykes and Leon Haslam took the victories in a dramatic, incident packed eighth round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Knockhill in which series leader Shane Byrne, despite a heavy tumble in the second race, still increased his lead in the title stakes. Sykes had continued in the rich vein of form that had taken him to double victories in the previous round at Oulton Park as he reeled in the early first race leader Michael Rutter to move his Rizla Suzuki ahead on the ninth lap. Rutter was taken by Byrne but the Airwaves Ducati rider was not able to make any impression on the confident Sykes who took the victory by some three seconds: “I’m a bit shell shocked to be honest – three on the bounce is something special,” said the 22 year old Huddersfield rider.”I’m absolutely over the moon – I was confident after the morning warm-up and knew that we had found the perfect set-up for this circuit. “I had a good dice with Michael Rutter early on, getting ahead, but he came back aggressively, then I took him again. I got my head down and thought to myself, let’s see what you can do now. It went smoothly although there were a couple of nervous moments going through back-markers when I dropped a bit of time,” added Sykes. Byrne, having seen his nearest rival Cal Crutchlow tip off, was happy enough to take a strong second place, and solid points in his efforts to regain the title he won five years earlier. James Ellison took third place for Hydrex Bike Animal Honda with Rutter bringing his North West 200 Ducati home in fourth place ahead of Leon Camier and Michael Rutter. A rain shower just as the riders were leaving on their sighting lap for the second race brought a delayed start, and Haslam, who had experienced double troubles in the opening race, first an electrical problem, and then a tumble, made the running from his first pole start of the season. Haslam was ahead of Byrne when the race was red-flagged as they went into their tenth lap after three riders had tumbled and the safety barrier at Seat Curves had been damaged. Byrne was away rapidly on the re-start but soon coming under increasing pressure from Haslam and then with five laps remaining, the leader’s Airwaves Ducati swerved off line going through the first turn and Byrne was heavily down. The race was halted immediately, though fortunately Byrne had escaped serious injury. Haslam was credited with the victory, ending a 17 race run since his previous success: “It’s good to take the win at last – I’ve been confident all weekend and was so disappointed by the problems we had in the first race,” said Haslam, adding “Shane went down pretty hard – I’m glad he’s OK.” Rutter took second place ahead of Rob Mac Racing Yamaha rider Karl Harris, Sykes, Ellison and Simon Andrews. Despite his second race demise, Byrne extended his lead 332-222 over Crutchlow who managed only seventh place in the second race. Gary Mason, riding the Quay Garage Honda, and Chris Burns, aboard the STP MV Agusta, took the victories in the Daily Star Cup, though a pair of seconds for Martin Jessopp moved him closer to series leader John Laverty who missed these races after crashing in Friday free practice. British Superbikes - Knockhill Race One Result Pos – Rider – Bike – Team - Time 1 - Tom Sykes - Suzuki - Rizla Suzuki - 25:09.296 2 - Shane Byrne - Ducati - Airwaves Ducati - 25:12.389 3 - James Ellison - Honda - Hydrex Bike Animal Honda - 25:12.775 4 - Michael Rutter - Ducati - North West 200 Ducati - 25:15.048 5 - Leon Camier - Ducati - Airwaves Ducati - 25:18.641 6 - Michael Laverty - Suzuki - Relentless Suzuki by TAS - 25:18.757 7 - Karl Harris - Yamaha - Team Yamaha - 25:28.347 8 - Simon Andrews - Yamaha - Jentin Racing / Lloyds British - 25:45.351 9 - Tristan Palmer - Honda - Tena for Men Honda - 25:48.393 10 - Gary Mason - Honda - Quay Garage - 25:49.317 11 - Tom Grant - Honda - SMT Honda - 25:49.377 12 - Steve Mercer - Kawasaki - MSS Discovery Kawasaki - 25:10.086 13 - David Johnson - Honda - Team MAXXIS - 25:17.264 14 - Martin Jessopp - Honda - Riders Racing - 25:18.241 15 - Chris Burns - MV Agusta - STP Superbike - 25:19.257 16 - Leon Morris - Ducati - Brookspeed - 25:39.011 17 - Aaron Zanotti - Honda - Red Viper Racing - 25:46.845 18 - Tom Tunstall - Honda - Hardinge - Ice Valley Motorsport - 25:52.310 19 - Shannon Etheridge - Kawasaki - MAR Adept - 25:13.987 20 - Michael Howarth - Honda - Tena for Men Honda - 25:27.590 Not Classified DNF - Billy McConnell - Kawasaki - MSS Discovery Kawasaki - 18:10.609 DNF - Atsushi Watanabe - Suzuki - Rizla Suzuki - 16:27.886 DNF - Scott Smart - Kawasaki - Hawk Racing - 15:24.634 DNF - Kenny Gilbertson - Kawasaki - Astro Racing Kawasaki - 13:15.947 DNF - Leon Haslam - Honda - HM Plant Honda - 9:53.231 DNF - Guy Martin - Honda - Hydrex Bike Animal Honda - 5:08.270 DNF - Cal Crutchlow - Honda - HM Plant Honda - 2:39.390 DNF - Dean Ellison - Yamaha - Co-ordit Racing - 3:18.893 British Superbikes - Knockhill Race Two Result Pos – Rider – Bike – Team - Time 1 - Leon Haslam - Honda - HM Plant Honda - 11:58.300 2 - Michael Rutter - Ducati - North West 200 Ducati - 12:01.514 3 - Karl Harris - Yamaha - Team Yamaha - 12:01.841 4 - Tom Sykes - Suzuki - Rizla Suzuki - 12:01.980 5 - James Ellison - Honda - Hydrex Bike Animal Honda - 12:04.891 6 - Simon Andrews - Yamaha - Jentin Racing / Lloyds British - 12:14.176 7 - Cal Crutchlow - Honda - HM Plant Honda - 12:14.839 8 - Leon Camier - Ducati - Airwaves Ducati - 12:16.908 9 - Billy McConnell - Kawasaki - MSS Discovery Kawasaki - 12:21.728 10 - Chris Burns - MV Agusta - STP Superbike - 12:24.739 11 - Steve Mercer - Kawasaki - MSS Discovery Kawasaki - 12:24.905 12 - Tristan Palmer - Honda - Tena for Men Honda - 11:38.548 13 - Scott Smart - Kawasaki - Hawk Racing - 11:44.627 14 - Guy Martin - Honda - Hydrex Bike Animal Honda - 11:46.835 15 - Atsushi Watanabe - Suzuki - Rizla Suzuki - 11:47.653 16 - Martin Jessopp - Honda - Riders Racing - 12:00.088 17 - Gary Mason - Honda - Quay Garage - 12:00.247 18 - Michael Howarth - Honda - Tena for Men Honda - 12:01.172 19 - Dean Ellison - Yamaha - Co-ordit Racing - 12:09.165 20 - Tom Tunstall - Honda - Hardinge - Ice Valley Motorsport - 12:16.967 21 - Michael Laverty - Suzuki - Relentless Suzuki by TAS - 12:18.095 22 - Shannon Etheridge - Kawasaki - MAR Adept - 12:20.258 23 - Aaron Zanotti - Honda - Red Viper Racing - 12:04.868 Not Classified DNF - Shane Byrne - Ducati - Airwaves Ducati - 11:57.702 DNF - Leon Morris - Ducati - Brookspeed - 1:57.400 Championship Points after race two 1 - Shane Byrne (Ducati) - 332 2 - Cal Crutchlow (Honda) - 222 3 - Tom Sykes (Suzuki) - 214 4 - Leon Haslam (Honda) - 199 5 - Leon Camier (Ducati) - 179 6 - James Ellison (Honda) - 177 7 - Michael Rutter (Ducati) - 174 8 - Michael Laverty (Suzuki) - 110 9 - Simon Andrews (Yamaha) - 108 10 - Tristian Palmer (Honda) - 75
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