The usual for Oulton Park, is the race going to be wet or dry? Well,it was dry tyres on the grid then it rained one minute before the start, so wet tyres were the order of the day. Tom had qualified well in 6th position for the race and by lap 4 he was in a strong 4th place, helped a little by the fact that Gowland, McConnell, Hutchinson and Paul Young had all crashed in the treacherous very slippery conditions. Pat had a sensational start from a disappointing grid position of 27th and 6th place starter in the Cup and got excellent drive off the start and was up to 15th on the first lap and 6th place overall by lap 3. Mid race the safety car came out on track following another crash for 3 laps which closed the time gaps between the riders.
The last few laps required some caution as the rain began to fall again. At the end the win went to Ben Wilson(Gearlink Kawasaki)with Sam Lowes right on his heals. Tom and Pat crossed the line in 6th and 7th positions only separated by 0.2 of a second. This solid result now leaves Tom in 4th position in the championship so far, only 1 point behind Ben Wilson. Pat's 7th gives him
some main championship points but more importantly he was 1st to the chequered flag of the cup competitors with a lead of over 10 seconds.
This now leaves Pat in 7th position in the standings. A very satisfying result after the disappointments of the non finishes at the first two rounds. The team now head off to Ireland for the North West 200 races next week with
experienced American rider Jimmy Moore in the saddle. He will be riding the teams Yamaha R1 Superbike, Suzuki GSXR 1000 Superstocker and Pat's Yamaha R6 Supersport bike. Fingers crossed for some good results. Next round for BSB is at Cadwell Park our 4th event on the 23rd May. Lets see if we can get three podium results on the trot. See you there.
No comments:
Post a Comment