John Reynolds hates being second, and, the leader of the THINK! British

Superbike Championship is determined to set the record straight with a

wining double as he powers into the sixth round at Thruxton on Sunday 6

June, but just as the Rizla Suzuki rider considered that life at the top

could not be any tougher, he faces another strong in-team challenge.

Team boss Paul Denning reacted quickly and positively when he learned that

the team's Japanese star, Yukio Kagayama, was sidelined by injury for this

round, signing up top Spanish rider Gregorio Lavilla to race alongside

Reynolds at the super-fast Hampshire circuit.

Lavilla, fifth in last year's World series, with seven top-three finishes,

brings a wealth of experience, and will be pushing hard for victories, while

Kagayama recovers from the broken right collarbone sustained in a crash

during qualifying for the Suzuka 300kms race last weekend.

Reynolds, who had been under intense pressure from Kagayama, being beaten by

him three times in four races, now faces an equally tough task to head off

Lavilla, as clearly there are no team orders at Rizla Suzuki.

However the Nottingham rider, twice the former champion, intends to extend

further his healthy 33 points advantage at Thruxton even though he has not

tasted the winner's champagne during the past four races.

"I've got to something about that - racing is about winning, and that is

what I am out there for. I may have increased my lead in the series, but

that does not mean I am happy at being beaten," Reynolds reflected, adding,

"I want noting short of a pair of victories in this round."

The Nottingham rider has proved a model of consistency in a series that has

produced no less than five different race winners so far this season - three

times a winner himself, he has yet to finish a race outside the top three,

but there is no complacency, rather, there is increased motivation to bring

to an end a run of four second placings.

That could prove to be difficult.

Michael Rutter, who topped 201 mph as he won the recent NorthWest 200 road

races, goes into these races having to play catch-up on Reynolds after

seeing 25 points slip from his grasp in the first of the two races at

Mondello Park when he was thrown off his HM Plant Honda Fireblade while

leading with only a little over four laps remaining.

Rutter hit back instantly in Ireland, to win next time out, collecting his

second victory of the season, but still faces a massive task to reel in the

confident Reynolds. The Honda rider knows that nothing short of a winning

double at Thruxton will suffice.

Scott Smart, apart from Reynolds, is the only rider to have scored points in

every round, and he made good use of his own technical input into the

development of the Hawk Kawasaki by taking his, and the team's maiden

victory in the championship in Ireland -the team has put in tremendous

effort on the suspension and handling of the bike, and now are working on

additional power, something that is vital as they take to the ultra-fast

Hampshire circuit. Their victory however as buoyed everyone in the team,

and with their second rider Glen Richards also running strongly, should be

pushing to podium finishes again here.

Another rider who needs to be in the front-running pack is Sean Emmett. His

lone victory so far, aboard the MonsterMob Ducati, came at Brands Hatch back

in April and that has left him back in fifth place in the rankings, in a

season when he was one of the favourites to lift the crown. Expect to see

him pulling out all of the stops.

Keep an eye out also for young Tommy Hill. He won the chance to ride among

the country's top racers by taking last year's Virgin Mobile Yamaha R6 Cup

title, and his graduation with the Virgin Mobile Samsung Yamaha team has

been marked with a series of strong rides, that gives him the edge in the

points standings above his more experienced team-mate Gary Mason, while the

sport's super-sub James Haydon again deputises for the team's injured third

rider Steve Plater.

Leading points positions: J Reynolds 207, M Rutter 174, Y Kagayama 152, S

Smart 130, S Emmett 105, D Thomas 84, G Richards 78, R Kiyonari 76, T Hill

54, G Mason 49.

ends