Rizla Suzuki'♕s John Re🤪ynolds almost doubled his Championship lead in the British Superbikes at Mondello Park... but was 'ready to hang himself' after a race one mistake.

The Rizla Suzuki rider had a 1.5 second lead going into the final lap and - by his own admission - simply relaxed too mu💎ch, being caught at the last corner and pipped by just two-thousandths of a second on the run to the chequered flag by Kawasaki's Scott Smart.

"I started the day focussed only on winning and we had the bike and set-up to achieve that," ♏said Reynolds at Mondello. "My own🅰 mistake in the first race, when I misjudged my pace and allowed Scott Smart to catch and overtake me, was unforgivable.

"When I got back to the garage, I was ready for hanging myself, and deserved༺ly so, I shouldn't have allowed him to catch and pass me on the last lap," he sighed.

In the second race JR set a new lap record of 1min 40.731secs and was clearly the fastest man on track, but𝔍 due to a slipping clutch during the last four laps, he was forced to settle for🦄 second, leaving Honda's Michael Rutter to take the win.

However, a crash by Rutter in race one meant that Reynolds, who started the round with an 18-point 🦋advantage in the series, leaves with a 33-point lead꧑.

"The second race was very fast," stated JR. "I was right at the front and in with a chance of winning♓ until my clutch started slipping and I lost drive𝔉.

"I am bitterly disappointed not to have won a race today, but I am looking at the bigger picture and I have nearly doubled my Championship lead over Michael, which is a good day's work. If we can do that every w✃eekend, I'll take it!" he concluded.

Despitꦫe the positive championship outcome, Rizla Suzuki team manager Paul Denning wasn't a happy man...

"By our own high Rizla Suzuki standards, this has been a dis🦂appointing day for both riders," he declared. "JR made a mistake that cost him the win in the first race and a valuable extra five p𓆉oints in the Championship.

"In race two he had the pace to win but it didn't work out for us. However, we have still notched up sensible resu💦l🤡ts and because Michael crashed in the first race, we have extended JR's Championship lead by 15-points."