Gregorio Lavilla powers into the double race finale of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch on Sunday in a strong position to clinch the crown, the Spanish rider having opened up a 13-point advantage over Ryuichi Kiyonari as he enjoyed the spoils of victory in the previous round.
The two riders will now duel for title supremacy over two 20 lap races around the demanding Kent grand prix circuit, with Lavilla knowing that he can afford to ride tactically to rack up sufficient points - while Kiyonari can only go all out for a pair of victories and hope that his rival finishes outside the top two.
Riding the Airwaves Ducati, Lavilla has run into a rich vein of form at the crucial time; the former WSBK frontrunner began the season without a regular ride but, after deputising for the team's then injured rider James Haydon, made the spot his own with strong performances in the opening two rounds, and is now handsomely repaying the faith shown in him.
The decisive action came in the penultimate round. Having shattered the lap record to claim pole start, he had the speed and style to avenge a split second defeat by Kiyonari in the previous Oulton Park round by comfortably beating him twice at Donington Park. That overturned the 22-year-old Japanese rider's slender lead in the title stakes and in the process left him playing catch-up.
It was the first time that Lavilla had won both races in a day and it put him into a strong position. “For sure now, I will be trying really hard to ensure that I win the title,” smiled the man from Tarragona who is poised to give the GSE team a third title, having previously powered Troy Bayliss and Neil Hodgson to the British crown.
But Lavilla knows that nothing can be taken for granted in this series, which was given top rating for entertainment in a recent
Daily Telegraph report on top sporting events, and he will be maintaining his hard working ethos as he goes into the final stages, with Kiyonari equally determined.
The HM Plant Honda rider has won a dozen times this season, but a couple of tumbles have proved costly to him and, with the second and third places scored last time out compounding his problems, the pressure is on him now. He has to go all out for victories, nothing less will suffice, but even then he has to hope that Lavilla is beaten further back down the finishing list if he is to overcome the 13-point deficit.
And there is unlikely to be any help forthcoming from his Honda team-mate Michael Rutter, who is destined to finish third in the rankings for the second time in three years after seeing his own hopes of taking the title for the first time slip out of his grasp with three tumbles in as many rounds, which left him with painful arm and shoulder injuries.
Nevertheless, Rutter is keen to sign off a disappointing campaign on a winning note, while in the Airwaves Ducati garage, Leon Haslam is also keen to end his season on a high.
