Michael Rutter, the points leader in the chase for the Bennetts British Superbike crown, is under pressure as he heads into the tenth round at Cadwell Park on Bank Holiday Monday, 29 August.
The HM Plant Honda rider had his advantage in the title stakes slashed to just 26-points in a dramatic, incident packed, affair at Silverstone during which his team-mate Ryuichi Kiyonari and Gregorio Lavilla took victories to close in on the crown.
There is no room for error as they power into the demanding 2.18 mile Lincolnshire circuit with its own unique atmosphere and massed crowds. It might be home for the two Honda riders, whose team is based at nearby Louth, but that means little to Lavilla who is enjoying a rich vein of form at the crucial time in the campaign.
Riding the Airwaves Ducati, the Spaniard has won two of the last three races, finishing second in the other, to be a real contender for the crown in his first full season in the championship. The winner of four races is currently third in the rankings, but only 30-points adrift of Rutter.
For each of them, there is all to play for. Rutter is still angered, and bitterly disappointed at the penultimate lap, first race tumble in the previous Silverstone round that cost him a certain second place, if not a fourth victory of the season. He managed to re-mount and salvage a point, but that was nothing compared to the valiant damage limitation exercise of Kiyonari.
He too had tipped off in exactly the same place as Rutter, but earlier on in the race, and had rejoined the action, fighting his way through the pack to take eighth place. Those heroics took on added significance as he dominated the next race, powering to his tenth victory of the season, just ahead of Lavilla, while Rutter had to be content with fourth.
Rutter enjoyed a victory at Cadwell Park last year, and he knows that nothing less will suffice this time around if he is to finally take the trophy that he has come so close to winning on several occasions. There are no team orders however, and Kiyonari is equally determined that he should take the silverware, becoming the first Japanese winner of the British title.
Their private duel, however, is no more. Lavilla can head them off, although he too has an in-team rival in young Leon Haslam, fourth in the standings and riding consistently well to suggest that he could be front-running in the races.
Apart from the championship scrap, there is plenty more. Steve Plater, the local favourite, is keen to turn on the speed and the style aboard the Hydrex Honda; Ben Wilson and Tristan Palmer ride the locally backed Vivaldi Kawasakis; Karl Harris, three times the British Supersport Champion, is overdue success aboard his Louth prepared Honda Fireblade and the three Virgin Mobile Samsung Yamaha riders Sean Emmett, Tommy Hill and Richard Wren are keen for positive results.
