Scott's smart move...

Hawk Kawasaki star Scott Smart stormed to a brilliant maiden BSB win - and the first worldwide superbike victory for Kawasaki's ZX-10R - in front of 1000s of sun-drenched race fans at Mondello Park, Eire, sunday.

'Smarty', who has been edging closer and closer to a podium finish all season, snatched the win from Suzuki's John Reynolds on the last corner of the 18th and final lap of the first race.

Reynolds looked to have victory in the bag, after passing Smart for second on lap 14 and inheriting the lead from Honda's Michael Rutter who crashed out moments later, but the Hawk rider had different ideas.

Smart slashed JR's one-second lead to zero on the last lap before diving underneath him at the last turn and out-dragging the series leader to the line - beating him by just 0.002 of a second.

"A lot of people kept saying that my first podium was coming up, but I didn't want just a podium, I wanted to win," said a delighted Smart. "I hung it all out on the last lap and a half and I knew exactly where I was going to do him. I didn't want to pass him on the left going into the chicanes because I knew he'd come back past me, so I thought I'd do him into the last corner, simple as that, and that's what I did.

"I concentrated absolutely on getting perfect drive out of the last turn and I knew JR would take a nice sweeping line, because I'd followed him for the last few laps. What I did was stop in front of him and grind us both to a halt. Because I was on the inside he couldn't go until I'd gone, which gave me 10 yards on him, but we were millimetres apart at the line because his bike is a little bit quicker. It was the only manoeuvre available to me so I took it."

Smarty's win was made all the more sweet for the Hawk team by Glen Richards' fine third place - the first time two Hawk riders have stood on a BSB podium in the same race. The Aussie was back on form this weekend and ran with the leaders - Rutter, Reynolds and Smart - for much of the race, until his soft rear tyre passed its best.

"That first race was a great result for the team and it's great for me to be back up the sharp end, plus I'm getting better every race now," said Richards of his first 2004 podium. "I got off the line good - now I'm learning what the bike needs to do in every sense, whether it's getting off the line or setting it up, and I feel more at home on it. It shouldn't be too much longer before we've got a really good race bike. It's a good race bike now, but Mondello isn't a horsepower track so we don't have a disadvantage with the engine. Third's good and I'm pleased to be back."

Smart and Richards backed up their excellent first race performances with a brilliant third and fourth in race two. Both Hawk riders were again away the leaders from the start, although Richards lost ground after being unable to pass Yamaha's Tommy Hill until mid-race distance. By the time he was past, the gap to Smarty in third was too great to bridge.

"I was stuck behind Tommy Hill for lap after lap and there was nothing I could do," said the Aussie. "He was going into turns like a maniac, missing his apexes and then pulling away down the straights because his bike is fast. Once I got past him I was as fast as anybody out there, but it was just too big a gap to make up on Scotty so I brought her home in fourth."

Smart succumbed to JR on lap nine, but the pace of the pair's battle soon reeled in Rutter. The Hawk rider was eventually dropped by the leaders, although he homed in on Reynolds in the final two laps, and could have caught and passed him with one more lap, when the Suzuki rider's clutch began to fail. But with a win and a third to his credit Smarty was awarded Niall Mackenzie's Man of the Meeting award as well as strengthening his fourth place in the points table.

"When John's clutch started going so it was like, 'oh no, I could have got past him again', but it's just one of those things because I hadn't done enough work in the middle section of the race to catch him again," he said. "It was a good weekend all in all, plus it was cool to be voted Man of the Meeting by Niall Mackenzie. That gets us another bottle of champagne we can get plastered on tonight!"

For Stuart Hicken, Hawk Kawasaki Team Principal, a maiden win for the team and a first double podium was a welcome surprise.

"It's well ahead of schedule because I thought we might have a chance at the end of the year, but it's fantastic for the team and for Scott and Glen who rode superbly. It's everything I could have dreamed of. Top sixes would have been great, but for Scott to have a win and a third and Glen to have a third and a fourth I'm over the moon with that.

"This is a real big bonus because we shouldn't really have been on the podium until two or three races time. The only thing is it sets a precedent in that people will now expect us to win, so the real hard work starts now. Everyone works real hard in the team so it's brilliant for everyone involved with Hawk."

The sixth round of the BSB championship will be held at Thruxton, Hants, on June 6.