<I>Crash.net's</I> BSB season review - Part 1.

The 2007 Bennetts British Superbike Championship was one of the most hotly contested championships to date. HM Plant Honda's Ryuichi Kiyonari retained the title, which once again went down to the wire.

There was an influx of new young talent set to really mixed things up with Jonathan Rea turning into an awesome force pushing his team-mate Kiyonari all season. Rea was joined by Cal Crutchlow, Leon Camier and Tom Sykes who all made the step up from Supersport.

All the race action kicked off at Brands Hatch on the full GP circuit with an interesting front row. Rea scored pole position with the fastest ever two wheeled lap of Brands. Camier was third with Airwaves Ducati securing second and fourth positions with Gregorio Lavilla and Leon Haslam respectively.

Lavilla did the double while Rea and Camier shared the podium spoils with a second and third each. The Superbikes moved onto the high speed circuit of Thruxton. Tommy Hill on the Virgin Media Optoma Loans Yamaha nabbed pole position, unfortunately he only managed eighth and tenth in the races. Lavilla snatched another double with Kiyo joining him on the podium picking up a third and a second. The other two podium places went to Camier, who was second in race one and Byrne took third in race two.

The fan's favourite Chris "Stalker" Walker returned to British shores with the Rizla Suzuki team. His first podium on his return was at Silverstone during round three, when he finished third behind Kiyonari and Rea. A repeat podium performance looked on the cards for race two, but he had to settle for fourth while Lavilla picked up second and Rea took third.

Kiyonari was on blistering form claiming his first double win of the year. It was also where Haslam's lacklustre start to the year went from bad to worse due to a high speed off during free practice.

Lavilla still held the title lead ahead of Camier, but Kiyonari was beginning to close in as the paddock headed north to Oulton Park. Championship leader, Lavilla, took pole position and was joined on the front row by Sykes on the Stobart Honda. The race turned into an Airwaves Ducati in house battle with Lavilla and Haslam bashing fairings, finishing in first and second respectively. That left the final step of the podium open for Kiyo who fought back in race two to take the win with Haslam second and Byrne third.

The championship was shaping up nicely as the paddock moved to Snetterton, where it was all to change. Byrne on the Stobart Honda took pole position and was hoping for his first win of the year. Lavilla crashed in morning warm-up and that set the pattern for his day. He only managed a sixth in race one and a very unfortunate DNF in race two. While Lavilla was struggling Kiyo picked up a double race win and that was all he needed to take the championship lead.

Byrne had an equally disappointing day with a DNF in race one due to a stone damaging a sensor on his bike, which made the machine think the traction control, was on, and wouldn't allow it to rev. He delivered the goods in race two with a third place finish.

It was time to cross the water to the slowest circuit on the calendar, Mondello Park in the Republic of Ireland. As Rea was the local rider he went out and grabbed pole position from his team-mate Kiyo. He had hoped for the win first time out but it wasn't to be with Haslam taking the top step from Byrne and Lavilla in third place. However he got what he wanted in race two - his maiden win.

Mondello was to be one of the low points of the year with a shocking incident during the Maxxis Supersport race. Guy Sanders high sided his Gearlink Kawasaki; he was picking himself up off the track when he was hit head on by the on coming riders. Unfortunately, he succumbed to his injuries leaving a stunned paddock behind.

Onward as ever north of the boarder to Knockhill in Scotland where the weather was the biggest contender. The one qualifying session was hit by rain leaving Rea on pole as no one was able to better their time. The front row of the grid was full of new comers, HM Plant were one two with Sykes in third and Camier fourth.

Ahead of race one the rain kicked in delaying the start. Once underway Rea dominated simply pulling away from the chasing pack. He finished 6.848secs clear of Kiyo, giving him his second win on the bounce. Haslam took third place while his team-mate and early championship leader, Lavilla languished in seventh place.

Race two was similar with Rea disappearing into the distance to pick up his first double and his third win! Haslam and Kiyonari joined him on the podium in second and third places respectively. Sykes and Kiyo had a drag race to the line with Kiyo pipping Sykes by 0.055secs, Sykes was gutted.

Lavilla's championship was lurching from crisis to crisis with a crash in race two robbing him of points. Since Rea pulled in maximum points and Lavilla lost out, Rea took over second place in the Championship.

More wet weather hit the paddock at Oulton Park for the eighth round of the Championship. Lavilla had a horrifying start line crash falling mid pack, and was run over by an on coming rider. Rea was doing his best to pull the pin and get away but a big moment lost him two places. He was still in the running until he high sided at Druids allowing his team-mate to stretch his points lead over him.
Byrne grabbed second place and Walker picked up his second podium finish of the year in third.

The second race was equally exciting but this time the HM Plant Honda riders swapped places, with Rea taking the win and Kiyo crashing. Like his team-mate in race one, Rea pulled a huge lead, coming over the line 12.1903 secs clear of second place. Karl Harris took his only podium of the year by securing second place with Byrne in third place. With the Honda team crashing this left the title chase even closer with Kiyo just 11 points ahead of Rea...