This Monday (a bank holiday in the UK) sees BSB go to Oulton Park. It will also see Haga and Haslam competing as wild cards. My guess is that their customer Pirellis will make them pretty uncompetitive. Haga's never seen the circuit before but despite his one WSB win, they need the track time. So far this year we've had 4 winners and 5 people on the podium in 6 races Wins: - Reynolds, Suzuki - Rutter, Honda - Emmett, Ducati - Kagayama, Suzuki Podiums: - Kiyonari, Honda Scott Smart seems to have taken over Glenn Richards role of constantly buzzing round just behind this with 4ths and 5ths A few random thoughts. - The Suzukis look like the complete package this year. Fast, good handling, reliable. - The Hondas have the speed, most of the handling but have an achilles heel in the form of a clutch that won't let them get cleanly off the line. Rutter has had to repeatedly fight through the field. That's too much of a handicap against Reynolds and the Suzuki. - Emmett's 999 doesn't seem to have the power or handling to compete yet. That may change as we get to the real rider's circuits. He's fast and brave at Oulton and was right on the pace at Brands. But ironically it was him nearly losing the front and then back on Paddock bend that had Glenn Richards running into the back and having them both off. - For a severely underdeveloped bike, the ZX10R looks outrageously fast. Just like Richards last year, Scott Smart can ride it like a 600, he's just lacking a little on acceleration. - Plater and Mason are still all at sea with the R1. Tommy Hill (the ex R6 cup newcomer) has been going better than both of them. Maybe he just doesn't know that there's supposed to be something wrong with it! I'm sure they'll work it out as the Yamaha ought to be competitive. - Big respec' to Kagayama for winning the race at Snetterton. He had a big off on Friday and landed on his hip so it must have mended. After last year he's lucky to be alive but he clearly still has the big racing cojones. Standings John REYNOLDS (Suzuki) 127 Michael RUTTER (Honda) 117 Yukio KAGAYAMA (Suzuki) 78 Sean EMMETT (Ducati) 78 Ryuichi KIYONARI (Honda)76 Scott SMART (Kawasaki) 68 Dean THOMAS (Ducati) 48 Tommy HILL (Yamaha) 40 In 600SS, we've got 3 winners, 7 podiums from 3 races. Laverty (Ducati), Harris(Honda), Vincent(Honda) have won, Riba (Kawasaki), Quigly(Suzuki) and Jones(Triumph) have had podiums. That win for Laverty is the first win anywhere for the 749R. Ian Macpherson should have won the race but he was flicked off while well in the lead. Standings Michael LAVERTY 51 Karl HARRIS 45 Jay VINCENT 43 Pere RIBA 42 Luke QUIGLEY 38 Craig JONES 27 Simon ANDREWS 27 Kieran MURPHY 19 Adrian COATES 15
