Crutchlow Again!

Paul Carruthers | August 1, 2010

They say the first win is the hardest and then they tend to come in bunches. If that’s the case, then the World Superbike paddock better take notice of Cal Crutchlow. Hours after winning the first World Superbike race of his career, Crutchlow did it again in race two at the Silverstone circuit in England, the Sterilgarda Yamaha rider sweeping both races and leading another all-British podium.In this one, Crutchlow was content with sitting on the rear wheel of Hannspree Ten Kate Honda’s Jonathan Rea, the pair never separated by more than .2 of a second at the start-finish line until Crutchlow decided to drop the hammer with two laps to go. On the 16th of 18 laps, Crutchlow led by .7 of a second. A lap later and it was 1.4 seconds. After 18 laps, Crutchlow had his second career victory by 2.070 seconds.ËWe´ve been trying so hard all year to achieve a win, I´m ecstatic that it has happened at my home race,” Crutchlow said in a team release. “It´s been a tough weekend with all the Brits trying hard but we knew we had the pace. We were worried about tire wear, but it wasn´t too bad. It was a little bit cooler in the first race which helped our bike as well. We now need to carry on and fight for the rest of the season. It´s been a dream come true today, three Brits on the podium for both races is brilliant. The British fans have been fantastic; they came out today and gave us tremendous support all round the circuit, a brilliant day for me, a brilliant day for Yamaha, Sterilgarda and all our other sponsors. All credit to Johnny Rea he rode really well in both races, but I was able to pick him off with a couple of laps to go.Ë Rea had to be content with second, the Northern Irishman well clear of Aprilia’s Leon Camier, the young Brit charging through from 10th on the opening lap to finish third – his third podium of the season.Fourth place went to Leon Haslam, the Alstare Suzuki rider barely besting James Toseland with the Sterilgarda Yamaha rider making it an all-British top five.The first non-Brit was World Championship points leader Max Biaggi, the Italian riding the second factory Aprilia to sixth. Then came Sylvain Guintoli and Shane Byrne in rapid succession as fourth through eighth were separated by just 1.2 seconds.Jakub Smrz and Carlos Checa rounded out the top 10 with American Roger Lee Hayden 17th on the Pedercini Kawasaki.The non-finishers included Troy Corser, the Australian crashing the BMW on the second lap.Haslam gained a few more points on Biaggi in the championship with Biaggi leading by 60, 373-313.

Race 2

1. Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha)

2. Jonathan Rea (Honda)

3. Leon Camier (Aprilia)

4. Leon Haslam (Suzuki)

5. James Toseland (Yamaha)

6. Max Biaggi (Aprilia)

7. Sylvain Guintoli (Suzuki)

8. Shane Byrne (Ducati)

9. Jakub Smrz (Aprilia)

10. Carlos Checa (Ducati)