British Superbike Championship
His victory in the 2005 British Superbike Championship was a major surprise, especially because he had never raced in the championship full-time before, and only got his ride a few days before the season started, initially to replace the injured James Haydon in the Airwaves Ducati team. He started so strongly that the team chose to retain him. He soon established himself ahead of team-mate Leon Haslam, and the main rival to the Honda bikes, before a run of 6 wins and 5 second places in the final 11 races saw him take the crown.
He started 2006 in even stronger form, with 6 wins in the first 8 races. His championship lead reached 66 points, but dropped after he crashed out of race 12 at Snetterton. Croft was not a successful meeting for him - a technical problem in race 1 and a fall in race 2 saw his championship lead down to 11 points over Haslam and 20 over Ryuichi Kiyonari's Honda. Further struggles meant that he lost the championship lead, and the final meeting was a disaster - he failed to score in either race, and slipped to 3rd in the championship behind Kiyonari and Haslam. His totals of 8 wins and 10 further podiums were still impressive for a third-place overall finish.
He started 2007 spectacularly, winning the first four races, and also winning race 7. However his form then faded and he finished 4th overall.
Read more about this topic: Gregorio Lavilla
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