KIYO SCORES A HAT-TRICK
27 June 2005 - Honda Racing

Ryuichi Kiyonari and Michael Rutter continued their domination of the 2005 Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Knockhill yesterday.

The HM Plant Honda Racing team-mates took a double one-two with Kiyonari securing his third double victory of the season – an impressive hat-trick by anyone’s standards!

The 22-year-old Japanese rider led both 30-lap races from start to finish to take a maximum haul of 50 points. The factory Fireblade rider has now won 80 per cent of the races that he has started and closed the gap on his championship leading team-mate to 43 points.

The first race was a HM Plant Honda Racing benefit. Kiyonari continually broke the late Steve Hislop’s outgoing lap record. His fastest time of 0:49.787 on lap six was just one of many sub-50 second laps – a truly outstanding performance on the HRC-supported Fireblade in front of 15,000 sun-drenched fans.

Rutter was in hot pursuit of his team-mate in the early stages. However, the 32-year-old Midlander was unable to sustain the Saitama star’s lap record pace. He settled into a good rhythm on his HM Plant Honda and pulled out a sizeable gap on third-placed Michael Laverty on a Stobart Honda. This was a superb result for Honda and its all-conquering CBR1000RR Fireblade.

The same outcome was almost inevitable in race two. Kiyonari shot into an early lead, but Rutter applied more pressure in the first half of the race and broke the lap record on lap three with a blistering time of 0:49.651. However, the number six HM Plant Honda responded with an amazingly consistent display of inch perfect riding over the 1.3-mile Fife circuit.

Michael Rutter: “I tried to keep it going in both races but there was nothing that I could do about Kiyo today – he was unbeatable! I may have a significant points advantage but I can’t keep letting him win like this. My plan was to try to get in front of him in the early laps but that was difficult after he got the holeshot in both races. I’m gutted that I wasn’t able to make more of an impression, but our results show what a good package HM Plant Honda Racing and Michelin have given us this year.”

Ryuichi Kiyonari: “I managed to get a fast start to both races. After that Michael rode hard and put me under a lot of pressure. He’s leading the championship and riding well on the CBR1000RR Fireblade. I knew that he would try to force me into an error and this made it very difficult for me. However, I am very happy with my performance today and I would like to thank everyone associated with HM Plant Honda Racing and the British fans for their invaluable support.”

Race one: 1. R. Kiyonari (HM Plant Honda Racing) 25:04.260; 2. M. Rutter (HM Plant Honda Racing) +12.538; 3. M. Laverty (Honda) +24.692; 4. G. Richards (Kawasaki) +26.361; 5. L. Haslam (Ducati) +26.732; 6. G. Lavilla (Ducati) +27.393; 7. J. Reynolds (Suzuki) +30.496; 8. K. Harris (Honda-Racing.co.uk) +38.127; 9. G. Mason (Honda) +40.659; 10. D. Thomas (Kawasaki) +41.473

Fastest lap: 0:49.787 – Kiyonari (new lap record)

Race two: 1. R. Kiyonari (HM Plant Honda Racing) 25:06.287; 2. M. Rutter (HM Plant Honda Racing) +7.122; 3. G. Lavilla (Ducati) +15.522; 4. M. Laverty (Honda) +16.690; 5. L. Haslam (Ducati) +17.473; 6. J. Reynolds (Suzuki) +19.148; 7. G. Richards (Kawasaki) +21.524; 8. J. Haydon (Suzuki) +25.697; 9. J. Rea (Red Bull Honda) +26.633; 10. D. Thomas (Kawasaki) +27.074

Fastest lap: 0:49.651 – Rutter (new lap record)

Championship points: 1. Rutter – 275; 2. Kiyonari – 232; 3. Lavilla – 216; 4. Richards – 160; 5. Haslam – 152; 6. Harris – 115; 7. Thomas – 97; 8. Laverty – 93; 9. Mason – 82; 10. Emmett – 79

www.honda-racing.co.uk

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