Thruxton's biggest crowd came out to watch the British Superbike Championship on a glorious sunny Easter Monday.

Estimated at about 35,000 they were thrilled with some excellent racing which saw the Airwaves Ducati rider Gregorio Lavilla, the reigning champion, win both British Superbike races, smash Thruxton's lap record and extend his lead to a 36-point margin in the overall standings from teammate Leon Haslam.

Lavilla broke the lap record in race one and then set the new time of 1:14.89 in the second.

Not to be outdone, local rider Pete Spalding, from New Milton, took his season's tally to three starts and three wins on his Honda in the Supersport Cup class.

"The team, from Andover, have done a brilliant job," said a buoyant Spalding who can't wait for the next round at Oulton Park at the end of April.

Spalding had a great race with another local from Southampton John Crockford, who was enjoying a guest ride in the Championship class on the Bernie Leigh Motorcycles-prepared Suzuki.

Crockford was a little disappointed with his performance.

"The bike was down on power," he said afterwards. It left him to battle with Spalding in the Cup class.

Another Championship rider on home ground was Gearlink's James Hillier from Winchester. Hillier ran a very stong race, finishing 17th in class, giving him his best result of the season.

With the massive crowd through the gates and live coverage of the British Superbike Championship on ITV it looks like the British Superbike Championship is going from strength to strength.