CROFT Superbike winner Gregorio Lavilla has praised the North-East crowd for the way he was feted after his dramatic victory in race two, writes Matt Westcott.

The Spaniard has raced all over the world before coming to the Bennetts British Superbike Championship with the Airwaves Ducati team.

Lavilla, who won the second of Sunday's two races in thrilling fashion and came third in the first, first raced in 75cc Spanish action in 1991, enjoying a first victory two years later in a 250cc race. In 1994 he won both the Spanish Superbike and Supersport before graduating into the World 250cc Championship for a season.

In 1996 he won three of the six rounds of the European 600cc Thunderbike Trophy before moving back into Superbikes, initially in the German and then the World Championships. Last season he rode in four rounds of the MotoGP Championship and was also a test rider for Suzuki.

Sunday's triumph came after the race was halted due to rain and then restarted with just 14 of the 22 laps left.

After dicing with Honda rider Ryuichi Kiyonari for a while, Lavilla managed to hold off the challenge of the man from Japan and move up into second place in the championship behind Kiyonari's Honda team-mate Michael Rutter.

"Here in England I am really respected. I like the people," he told Echo SPORT. "I feel good and I feel at home. People ask for autographs and they want to talk to you and they give you pictures, these things make me feel good.

"My job is to ride but I like this side as well. At the moment I am not famous enough to get sick of that."

Published: 10/06/2005