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This years’ Donnington World Superbikes round was always going to have a large British presence especially with so many Brits in the championship and a clutch of wildcards from British Superbikes including Leon Camier, James Ellison and TT podium winner Connor Cummins.

The British weather whilst very warm also featured thundery showers making qualifying, shall we say, interesting. Cal Crutchlow in World Supersports had an off in qualifying resulting in a cracked ankle.

Ben Spies put aside his qualifying glitch in the last round and took his 7th pole of the season. Max Biaggi has not looked threatening of late as far as the championship is concerned and has generally had mid pack results but he qualified 2nd on the grid. Shakey Byrne invigorated by his form at Misano on the Sterilgarda Ducati looked strong and started from 3rd.

Biaggi’s Aprilia teammate Nakano also qualified well in 4th with Haga 5th and Fabrizio 6th.

In race 1 Spies got away well and was soon gapping the rest of the field. Biaggi also managed to pull out and so did Haga. But Haga could not match the Aprilia’s pace and dropped back to have a lonely race. At certain points on the track it looked as though Biaggi could threaten Spies but then on other parts of the track Spies was masterful and in the end Biaggi was delighted to settle for 2nd.

Haga took third and left Brits Haslam and Byrne to fight it out for fourth, Haslam winning that battle as he should given the amount of time he has on the circuit! Rea had a great ride to finish 7th and it was good to see John Hopkins back in the paddock and he finished well in 8th place although he later admitted that for the second part of the race he was in a lot of pain and the decison was taken that he should look to get fit for Brno and not start the second race.

Fabrizio surprisingly finished in 12th however, with the Italian never looking on the pace.

The second race looked initially to be a repeat of the first with Spies and Biaggi getting out front and Nori in hot pursuit but the Melbourne Loop caught out Biaggi who rejoined the race but could not repeat his first race podium instead finishing in a disappointing 21st (last).

That left the way open for Haga, but sadly it was not meant to be, and he had a massive and horrible crash on lap 5 and had to be airlifted to hospital with suspected back injuries. However this later turned out to be from another career crash and he actually has a fractured arm and suspected fractured shoulder and it is hoped he still has a chance for the championship and plans to be racing again at Brno. I feel sorry for Haga as I and I suspect many fans (and Nori for that matter) saw 2009 and his chance at the championship. It still might be we’ll have to wait and see.

With Biaggi and Haga out of the race this left the way open for the Brits as well as a resurgent Fabrizio in the mix. Haslem held off Fabrizio to take the 2nd place on the podium with Fabrizio 3rd.

With Byrne(4th), Sykes(5th), Camier(6th), Ellison (8th) and Andrews (10th) there were six Brits finishing in the top ten, how good is that? Jonny Rea did not fare so well after an off but he did manage 15th for one point.

World Supersports
The usual suspects were expected to battle it out for the lead – Crutchlow and Laverty – with Crutchlow taking yet another pole position. Crutchlow got a good start and the first few laps were dominated by Lascorz, Crutchlow and Laverty. But Crutchlow is like a dog with a bone and it is never long before he fights his way to the front. Laverty fell victim to the Melbourne Loop but did manage to keep the bike going and remount. This left Crutchlow to battle it out with Lacorz, Sofuoglu and McCoy. Yes McCoy! He may not be a Brit rider but he still rides a Triumph and you have to cheer for that if nothing else.

Laverty has surely secured his place on everyone’s shopping list when the silly season starts, fighting his way through the field from 22nd, past riders that did not fall off, to eventually finish fifth and with more laps who knows what he could have achieved?

Crutchlow took the win (with a cracked ankle don’t forget) with a 5 second gap over Lascorz and an emotional McCoy third – great news for the ParkinGO Triumph team. Perhaps we’ll have a factory supported team in the future?

Race 1 Results:
1 19 Spies B. (USA) Yamaha YZF R1 34′57.230 (158,831 kph)
2 3 Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 7.156
3 41 Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R 10.968
4 91 Haslam L. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 18.843
5 67 Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1098R 19.125
6 56 Nakano S. (JPN) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 21.286
7 65 Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 23.644
8 121 Hopkins J. (USA) Honda CBR1000RR 32.849
9 96 Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 32.904
10 9 Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 33.192
11 7 Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 34.535
12 84 Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 35.093
13 22 Camier L. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 35.441
14 57 Lanzi L. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 39.034
15 111 Xaus R. (ESP) BMW S1000 RR 41.067
16 14 Lagrive M. (FRA) Honda CBR1000RR 46.452
17 71 Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 47.924
18 23 Parkes B. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX 10R 48.246
19 99 Scassa L. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 50.932
20 117 Andrews S. (GBR) Kawasaki ZX 10R 55.032
21 2 Hacking J. (USA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 55.216
22 53 Polita A. (ITA) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1′02.758
23 25 Salom D. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1′02.977
24 94 Checa D. (ESP) Yamaha YZF R1 1′12.255
25 79 Young B. (USA) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1′12.531
RET 11 Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR
RET 27 Ellison J. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1
RET 88 Resch R. (AUT) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9
RET 66 Sykes T. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1
RET 36 Lavilla G. (ESP) Ducati 1098R
RET 77 Iannuzzo V. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR

Race 2 Results:
1 19 Spies B. (USA) Yamaha YZF R1 35′14.788 (157,512 kph)
2 91 Haslam L. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 6.622
3 84 Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 6.816
4 67 Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1098R 7.349
5 66 Sykes T. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 8.145
6 22 Camier L. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 13.463
7 9 Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 15.751
8 27 Ellison J. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 16.837
9 111 Xaus R. (ESP) BMW S1000 RR 22.891
10 117 Andrews S. (GBR) Kawasaki ZX 10R 30.347
11 57 Lanzi L. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 30.622
12 14 Lagrive M. (FRA) Honda CBR1000RR 31.562
13 71 Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 32.148
14 23 Parkes B. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX 10R 32.607
15 65 Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 32.806
16 99 Scassa L. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 34.269
17 79 Young B. (USA) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 40.644
18 36 Lavilla G. (ESP) Ducati 1098R 40.956
19 25 Salom D. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX 10R 41.302
20 11 Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 42.856
21 3 Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 47.769
RET 77 Iannuzzo V. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR
RET 88 Resch R. (AUT) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9
RET 53 Polita A. (ITA) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9
RET 7 Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR
RET 94 Checa D. (ESP) Yamaha YZF R1
RET 41 Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R
RET 96 Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R
RET 56 Nakano S. (JPN) Aprilia RSV4 Factory
RET 2 Hacking J. (USA) Kawasaki ZX 10R

Supersport Results:
1 35 Crutchlow C. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R6 34′15.876 (154,981 kph)
2 26 Lascorz J. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-6R 5.391
3 24 McCoy G. (AUS) Triumph Daytona 675 14.918
4 54 Sofuoglu K. (TUR) Honda CBR600RR 22.248
5 50 Laverty E. (IRL) Honda CBR600RR 37.054
6 77 Veneman B. (NED) Honda CBR600RR 39.079
7 105 Vizziello G. (ITA) Honda CBR600RR 39.978
8 69 Nannelli G. (ITA) Triumph Daytona 675 42.733
9 9 Dell’Omo D. (ITA) Honda CBR600RR 43.030
10 1 Pitt A. (AUS) Honda CBR600RR 47.422
11 4 Westmorland J. (GBR) Triumph Daytona 675 50.207
12 7 Vostárek P. (CZE) Honda CBR600RR 50.474
13 101 Coghlan K. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R6 50.763
14 6 Kennaugh H. (RSA) Yamaha YZF R6 58.147
15 51 Pirro M. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R6 59.756
16 28 Vos A. (NED) Honda CBR600RR 1′16.315
17 40 Gentile F. (ITA) Honda CBR600RR 1′26.650
18 96 Smrz M. (CZE) Triumph Daytona 675 1′27.976
19 88 Guerra Y. (ESP) Yamaha YZF R6
20 25 Laverty M. (GBR) Honda CBR600RR
RET 99 Foret F. (FRA) Yamaha YZF R6
RET 117 Praia M. (POR) Honda CBR600RR
RET 127 Harms R. (DEN) Honda CBR600RR
RET 22 Muresan R. (ROU) Triumph Daytona 675
RET 13 West A. (AUS) Honda CBR600RR
RET 30 Günther J. (GER) Honda CBR600RR
RET 8 Aitchison M. (AUS) Honda CBR600RR
RET 21 Fujiwara K. (JPN) Kawasaki ZX-6R
RET 55 Roccoli M. (ITA) Honda CBR600RR