Double Top for Buildbase Ducati Team

The Buildbase Ducati team secured a stunning start to the Bennett British Superbike season at Thruxton Circuit. With John Laverty winning both the Daily Star Cup races on the Buildbase Ducati 1098 R stock bike and his team mate Michael Rutter took two fantastic third places on the North West 200 F08 Ducati.

After cold and wet conditions throughout the weekend the sun finally managed to break through for the two 20-lap races on Sunday. Laverty secured the top spot in qualifying position in the cup (9th overall) with Rutter on the front row in third.

Pictures courtesy of www.moto-photo.co.uk

The duo gained fantastic starts in both races; Laverty had an exceptional lead in the Cup race over his nearest rival in race one Chris Burns, who finished nearly ten seconds adrift of Laverty. John Laverty on the Buildbase NW200 Ducati rode a hard and solid race and finished 12th overall in the Championship, easily securing him the Cup win. Rutter on the NW200 Ducati diced with the front runners and eventually secured a fantastic third place behind Byrne and Crutchlow.

Race two was action packed and Rutter was once more sitting in fourth position after the opening lap with John Laverty in an incredible seventh place, and again the leading cup rider. However by lap seven a huge crash involving Karl Harris and Tom Sykes forced the race to be red flagged and re-started as a 15-lap race. John Laverty fought a hard race, convincingly taking the Daily Star Cup win and finishing 11th overall in the main Championship. This time Laverty was nearly 20-seconds in front of his nearest competitor Martin Jessopp, sealing a healthy 20-point lead in the Daily Star Cup Championship. Rutter gained another well deserved third place behind Crutchlow and Byrne.

John Laverty said “I’m really pleased to have got the first races under my belt and I now have a comfortable 20 point lead in the Daily Star Cup series. The bike felt brilliant all weekend and considering I’m still on a very much standard road bike I’m very happy where I ended up in the main Championship. I was having a battle with my brother Michael throughout the weekend and hopefully I’ll be able to get the better of him at some point. I’d like to thank Buildbase for supporting me again this year and all of my team for working as hard as they have; we all deserve this result.”

A delighted Rutter said “It’s a mega feeling to be back up at the front and it’s been a long time coming. The entire team have worked so hard all weekend and this is an awesome result for everyone and I’d like to thank them for that. I couldn’t have asked for better and I am confident we can continue this form through the rest of the season. I’ve had a few difficult years and I’m loving being back on a Ducati and glad I was able to pull two decent results out the bag for them.”

Team Manager Ken Foley commented, “I’m very pleased with the results that the two riders have achieved today and we couldn’t have asked for a better start to the season. With Laverty now Championship leader in the Cup and Rutter 3rd in the main BSB Championship, it has made all the hard work over the past few months worthwhile and we are definitely going in the direction that we had hoped for. With confidence growing we are obviously looking to continue this form throughout the season and collecting lots of silverware along the way for Buildbase and NW200”.

Relentless 125 British Championship

Luke Hinton, Stratford’s 17 year old competitor in the British 125 Championship on his Buildbase/knotts Honda finished in seventh place in the first race of the season at Thruxton on Sunday (20 April) after qualifying on the front row of the grid in fourth spot

For most of the 14 lap race Luke had been in a dual for the lead and was all set to make his bid for the top step of the podium when with just four laps to go his exhaust broke and with the resultant power loss he was forced to nurse his Honda home to seventh at an average of 97.11 mph. “I really thought I was definitely on for a podium place. At least I have shown I can race with the leaders and the nine points I earned could be invaluable as the season progresses.”

Luke’s next outing on the Buildbase/ Knotts Honda is at Oulton Park on Monday, 5 May.

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