REYNOLDS WINS DESPITE BROKEN COLLARBONE!
20 June 2004 - THINK! British Superbikes

THINK! British Superbike Championship - round seven - Brands Hatch

John Reynolds, with a win and a seventh place in the rain at Brands Hatch, tightened his lead in the THINK! British Superbike Championship as his title rival Michael Rutter was slowed by machine problems in each of the races in the seventh round.

It was a remarkable performance by the Rizla Suzuki rider who had broken his left collarbone two weeks earlier in a high speed crash during the Thruxton round, but, the twice former champion and current series leader opted to race through the pain barrier in a damage limitation exercise.

Amazingly, he fought through to be leading by one thirds distance in each of the two 20 lap races, going on to win the first by some six seconds from MonsterMob Ducati rider Sean Emmett.

''I didn''t expect to do that - I had thought that if I could finish within five places of Michael then I would still be in with a chance,'' said Reynolds, who learned that Rutter had finished fifth in the opening race.

Reynolds was again on the charge in the second race, opening up a sizeable lead before he slowed in the closing stages, pointing the finger at a slow puncture to the rear tyre of his bike which dropped him to seventh place.
Rutter, experiencing electrical problems finished back in fourteenth, and now he trails Reynolds 261-232.

The second race was won by Renegade Ducati rider Leon Haslam, who finished some five seconds ahead of Sean Emmett, with Yukio Kagayama in third place.

Karl Harris, with his fourth victory of the campaign, aboard the HM Plant Honda, continued the defence of his British Supersport title in style, extending to 20 points his advantage over Michael Laverty who had to settle for seventh place.

Christian Elkin moved jointly into the lead with Eugene Laverty, ninth in the British 125cc Championship race, as he took his second victory of the season by less than a second from Michael Wilcox, who defending his title is eight points down on the leading duo.

The meeting was abandoned after a multiple crash on the opening lap of the National Superstock Championship left seven riders injured, two of them seriously - they were treated at the scene, and in the circuit medical centre, before being transferred to local hospitals, both by helicopter and road ambulances.

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