Gregorio Lavilla

Infobox Superbike rider


Name = Gregorio Lavilla
Caption = Gregorio Lavilla BSB 2005
Nationality = flagicon|ESP Spanish
Birthdate = 29 September 1974
Birthplace = L'Hospitalet de l'Infant, Tarragona, Spain
Website = [http://www.gregoriolavilla.com gregoriolavilla.com]
Current team = Ventaxia VK Honda
Bike number = 36
Race Starts = 158
Race Wins =
Podiums = 12
Fastest laps = 3
Last season = 2008
Last position = 11th (32pts)

Gregorio Lavilla born September 29 1974 in L'Hospitalet de l'Infant, Tarragona, Spain is a professional motorcycle road racer. He has raced in MotoGP, the Superbike World Championship, and the British Superbike Championship, taking the British crown in 2005. For SBK|2008 he is racing in WSB for the Ventaxia Honda team.

Early years

He had been Spanish Superbike champion in 1994, and raced in the 250cc Grand Prix World Championship the next year. He was runner-up in Germany's Superbike championship in 1997, on board a Ducati. In 1998 he first raced in the Superbike World Championship full-time, on a private Ducati, taking two outright podiums. He then spent 3 years with Kawasaki's factory team, finishing 8th overall despite experiencing many crashes in 1999 (including five in a row) and finishing 10th overall in 2000 despite missing four rounds through injury, before a stronger 2001, in which he was the second-highest non-wildcard in Race 1 at Sugo.

For 2002 and 2003 he raced a factory Suzuki, doing what he could on a V-Twin which lagged behind the 1000cc Ducatis (and Colin Edwards' Honda in 2002), finishing 5th overall in the relatively weak 2003 championship with 19 top-six finishes including seven podiums, although still not taking a race win. Suzuki did not enter a WSBK team in 2004, and Gregorio remained with them as a factory test rider, substituting for Yukio Kagayama in the BSB series once, and doing 4 MotoGP races for the team. He was released at the end of the season, leaving the way clear for his fairytale 2005.

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 [http://www.grandprixlegends.com/MotoLegendsSite/pages/product/product.asp?ctgry=M_DiecastModels_I_Ducati(MotoLegends)&prod=PO52236S(GPL_BaseCatalog)&ctlg=MotoLegends&cookie%5Ftest=1] , 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.

World Championship part 2

For SBK|2008 he moved to the Superbike World Championship riding a Honda CBR1000RR for Ventaxia VK Honda as part of the Paul Bird team.

Personal

His sporting heroes are Mick Doohan, Wayne Rainey and Lance Armstrong. He is unmarried and lives in L'Hospitalet de l'Infant.

External links

* [http://www.gregoriolavilla.com gregoriolavilla.com] Official site