Rutter ends two-year wait for victory at Knockhill

MICHAEL Rutter took the victory in the opening race of the sixth round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at weather-ravaged Knockhill.

The RidersMotorcycles.com Ducati rider finished ahead of Ryuichi Kiyonari and Josh Brookes in a race that had twice been red-flagged, once by torrential rain and then as Dan Linfoot and Chris Walker tangled.

It was a first success in two years for Rutter while for Brookes, third place was enough to give him the lead in the title chase, four points ahead of Tommy Hill who ran a distant eighth.

Rutter was denied the opportunity of a daily double as the weather again closed in after the second race had been red-flagged by a six-rider incident on the opening lap.

High winds added to the problems and the decision was taken to postpone the race to Saturday, 17 July as part of the seventh round at Snetterton.

Meanwhile, Gabriele Tarquini closed the gap on World Touring Car Championship leader Yvan Muller by following up his third place in race one with victory in race two at yesterday's round in Portimao.

The Italian's SEAT team-mate Tiago Monteiro won the first race 1.032seconds ahead of Frenchman Muller (Chevrolet).

The reigning champion came from sixth on the grid to clinch victory in the second race, 1.736secs ahead of Muller with the Chevrolet of Briton Robert Huff third.

Augusto Farfus (BMW) and Alain Menu (Chevrolet) were fourth and fifth in race one with Menu improving to fourth in race two in which Andy Priaulx (BMW) was fifth. The win lifted Tarquini to within 15 points of the championship lead.

Huff's drive was perhaps the most impressive, though, as he came from 18th on the grid to claim a spot on the podium. Three-time former champion Priaulx also produced a stirling second-race drive as he made his way through the field, moving up from 21st to finish fifth.

Priaulx had been forced to retire from race one after a coming together with the SEAT of Fredy Barth which damaged the left-hand side of his car.

"We were so unlucky in race one in what happened after the rolling start, and there was a lot of work to do on the left hand side of the car to make it race worthy again," said the Guernsey driver. "Race two was a really interesting and fun race."