The Rapid Solicitors-Bathams Ducati team scored a top eight finish at the third round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Croft as Michael Rutter overcame the disappointment of a retirement in the opening race to finish eighth in race two.

In the opening race Rutter was running as high as second on the opening lap from his front row start before settling into third when he was forced to retire with a broken gear lever. Martin Jessopp had a challenging race after opting for wet tyres in changing conditions and as the track dried it was a case of damage limitation and he ended nineteenth.

In race two Rutter was running inside the top four in the early stages of the race before traction issues dropped him down the order to eighth, but he was able to score solid points for the Rapid Solicitors-Bathams Ducati team. Jessopp suffered disappointment in the second race when a technical problem forced him to retire.

In the Metzeler National Superstock 1000 Championship Michael Booth continued to make improvements with the Rapid Solicitors-Bathams Ducati on the bumpy Yorkshire circuit, scoring points in fifteenth place in the race.

Rutter said:

"We didn't have a bad start to the weekend and we are still doing a lot of work on the electronics and it started much better here than Oulton Park. There were some changes we wanted to make in morning warm up and the changing conditions ruined that for us unfortunately. I was fortunate that the conditions played into our hands in qualifying as the front row start made a big difference in the race. I had a reasonable start and then we were unlucky that the gear lever broke and we had to retire. In the second race we started from the second row and we were having a few problems with the traction but eighth was more points for the Rapid Solicitors-Bathams Ducati team, so we now go to the North West 200 and try and build on what we have learnt at Croft to put us in a stronger position for Thruxton."

Jessopp said:

"In qualifying we were struggling with the last section of the track, which is always the case for the Ducatis here. In the first race the conditions were changing and we chose to run wet tyres which in the end was the wrong choice, but that was the luck of the gamble. I just did what I could and made my way up to 19th and the tyre was ruined by the end of the race as the track dried. In the second race we had a problem which we think was with the injectors and that ended the day, which was disappointing really but now we are looking forward to Thruxton."

Booth said:

"It was a tough weekend for us as I crashed n qualifying after only three laps so the mechanics had a lot of work to do to get the Rapid Solicitors-Bathams Ducati ready to race. It also gave me work to do in the race to work back up the order as I started from 23rd on the grid. But we got a good start and managed to push through to 15th and salvage some points from a difficult round."

Team Manager Phil Jessopp concluded:

"It has been quite a hard weekend for the Rapid Solicitors-Bathams Ducati team, but it wasn't completely unexpected as this track has never been kind to us in the past. It was tricky conditions in the first race which caught Martin out on tyre choice, whilst Michael was unfortunate to have an issue with the brake lever. In the second race Michael was able to score some good points and Martin suffered a technical issue, but we move on now to Thruxton and in the past that has been a better track for us."