Rutter steals win on final corner.

The first race of the Thruxton round of the British Superbike championship saw a restarted race after three laps.

The second part of the race was started on the positions the riders were in on the lap before the red flags came out. This saw Thomas on pole, followed by Reynolds, Rutter then Smart. The final race results were an aggregate of the two race parts.

The second part of the race was to be run over nineteen laps. The restart saw Scott Smart fire from fourth into second by the first corner behind pole sitter Dean Thomas. Smart's team mate, Glen Richards, also got a blinding start and went into the first corner in fourth.

The following few laps saw the top three, Thomas, Smart and Reynolds, pull a slight lead over fourth placed Richards. Michael Rutter, who had found himself down in sixth after the restart, was quick to move back up the field and take fourth place by lap six.

Reynolds, in response to Rutter's form, block passed Smart to take second on the track. By this time Reynolds team mate, MotoGP's Gregorio Lavilla, had moved up behind Rutter. He then proceeded to slipstream the Honda rider and take forth behind Smart.

On the next lap, now knowing he can overtake on the penultimate corner - a long right hander before a chicane, Lavilla made the same move on third placed Smart. He then started to close down the small lead Thomas and Reynolds had managed to pull over the rest of the field.

As Lavilla started to storm towards the leaders, Rutter made the same move that the stand in Rizla rider had made on him, on the Hawk of Smart. This saw him move into fourth.

Within a lap Lavilla had closed the 0.5sec lead to Reynolds and was challenging the championship leader. On this lap Lavilla used his now trademark out-braking manoeuvre on second placed Reynolds but Thomas seemed to slow and this let Lavilla through.

Reynolds stuck onto the back wheel of the MotoGP rider and managed to slip under Thomas also.

This gave the Rizla team the opportunity to use team orders in order to let Reynolds through to first to ensure as many points difference between him and Rutter. However, when questioned during the race the team announced that there were no team orders as "it's a race out there!"

Whilst this battle for first was going on, second on the first grid Sean Emmett was working his way through the field after a poor second start. By this point, lap 12, he had made his way back to up to forth ahead of Rutter.

Emmett and Rutter then continued on towards the leaders and were on Lavilla's back wheel by lap fourteen, after making an excellent move on Reynolds and Thomas on the same corner.

This meant that on track positions Lavilla led Emmett followed by Reynolds, Thomas and Rutter.

The battle for first then kept swapping between Lavilla and Emmett in an epic battle which saw the position swapping almost twice each corner. Emmett emerged the victor and by the final laps he had pulled a slight lead over the following pack.

Rutter then made a late attempt on Reynolds to take third and then proceeded to take second placed Lavilla. This meant that going into the final lap Emmett led Rutter and Reynolds.

Sensing his immanent victory, Emmett punched the air on the final corner. This however meant his concentration was broken briefly, allowing the rear wheel of his Ducati to break free. He managed to hold on but by this time Rutter and Reynolds had slipped through, displacing the embarrassed Emmett into third.

Race one: top ten (Aggregate combined time)
1. Michael Rutter HM Honda
2. John Reynolds Rizla Suzuki
3. Sean Emmett Monstermob Ducati
4. Gregorio Lavilla Rizla Suzuki
5. Dean Thomas Sendo Ducati
6. Scott Smart Hawk Kawasaki
7. Gary Mason Virgin Yamaha
8. James Ellison* Jentin Yamaha
9. Tommy Hill Virgin Yamaha
10. Kieran Clarke Colin Appleyard Yamaha

*indicates cup contender