Haslam wins as title fight goes on...

British Superbikes, Croft Circuit.

LEON Haslam took the win in Race Two at Croft, as Shakey Byrne narrowly missed out on taking the title this afternoon.
The HM Plant Honda rider backed-up his second place in Race One by taking a solid victory around the North Yorkshire track, after taking the lead three laps from the end.

The race started as almost a carbon copy of the first, with polesitter Cal Crutchlow grabbing the holeshot and leading the field into the opening lap.

As the pack rounded the hairpin to begin Lap Two, Byrne missed a gear and dropped back to 10th, while Crutchlow crossed the line ahead of Rizla Suzuki's Tom Sykes and North West 200 Ducati pilot Michael Rutter.

Crutchlow led the race all the way to Lap 10, when Sykes made a pass, forcing Cal down to second just ahead of team-mate Haslam who was now sitting third.

Byrne meanwhile had been making his way through the pack, and on Lap 13 passed Rutter for fifth, while a lap later Airwaves Ducati's Leon Camier passed Haslam at the Complex.

On Lap 18, Camier waved team-mate Shakey through into third while up at the front, Haslam, who had found his way past Crutchlow, made a daring move on Sykes at Tower, and made it stick.

It was a place he was to hold up to the chequered flag two laps later, but all eyes were now on Shakey, who had closed the gap to Crutchlow.

Only needing to finish third to wrap-up the championship, Byrne pushed as hard as he could but could not find that extra something needed to catch and pass the Honda, and settled for fourth.

The title fight was left to rumble on to the next round at Silverstone in a fortnight.

Meanwhile in the Superbike Cup, John Laverty finally put the rest out of their misery by taking the title.

He finished second in the race, again behind the formidable force which is Gary Mason, but the points advantage he gained before Mason joined the series earlier this year where enough to give him the title, with two rounds still remaining.

Top Ten:

1: Leon Haslam, HM Plant Honda
2: Tom Sykes, Rizla Suzuki
3: Cal Crutchlow, HM Plant Honda
4: Shane Byrne, Airwaves Ducati
5: Leon Camier, Airwaves Ducati
6: Michael Rutter, North West 200 Ducati
7: James Ellison, Hydrex Bike Animal Honda
8: Karl Harris, Team Yamaha
9: Simon Andrews, Jentin/Lloyds British
10: Michael Laverty, Relentless Suzuki by TAS

Superbike Cup:

1: Gary Mason,Quay Garage
2: John Laverty, Buildbase NW200 Ducati
3: Tom Tunstall, Hardinge - Ice Valley Motorsport