Race Report from Brands Hatch 10th/11th May 2008
Saturday - It felt quite odd not to be qualifying on Saturday, however as the day was so hot, and the track temperature up to 48C, our times where not much quicker than the qualifying times set several weeks ago. The bike was working well and i felt comfortable and confident for Sunday.
Sunday Race 1 - I Started from 24th on the grid, didn’t get a great start but dug in and worked my way up through the field. I really enjoyed this race and also did my fastest ever lap around Brands. On the last lap Burns, Laverty and i were all racing together for the cup win, Burns got away but i managed to overtake Laverty on the last lap for second in the cup and 15th overall in the race, scoring my first British Superbike point.
Race 2 - We didn’t make any changes to the bike for the second race as it had been working really well, we also stuck with the same tyre choice - medium front and rear. Again i didn’t have a great start but worked my way up a few places to race with Luke Quigley and Micheal Laverty. On lap 15 Stever Mercer had a big crash that led to the pace car coming out for several laps. We all bunched up again ready for the sprint to the finish but after just one lap the race was red flagged due to Tom Sykes bike blowing the engine and oil on the track. When the race was stopped i was in third place in the cup and 17th overall.
I had a good weekend, i was really happy with the bike, set up and tyre choice and finishing my weekend in second overall in the cup is a great result. I am still looking for my first win but am confident we are moving forward, i am hoping the win will come at Donnington on the 25th May.
