for both our riders Jason and Pat and were not disappointed. Practice day on
Friday went to plan apart from Pat's R6 developed a problem in the fist
session with a flat battery unfortunately causing him to miss the majority
of that 30 minute stint. It turned out to be a broken rectifier and was soon
resolved. Saturday's normal two qualifying sessions were altered to a
further 30 minute practice and just one 30 minute qualifying session that
was shown live on sky sports TV. This put the pressure on the riders to
deliver a fast lap and make it count in that one and only stint. Jason had
an excellent run and finished in a 9th position start for the race the
following day. Pat was struggling a little to find a good set up with his
bike and finished in 4th position in the Cup standings and 21st overall.
Race day on Sunday was warm and dry with a strong entry list of 35 riders in
our British Supersport class. We started with a 10 minute warm up session in
the morning allowing Jason and Pat to try further suspension adjustments to
get the bikes fine tuned for the 16 lap race in the afternoon. Pat was not
comfortable with these changes so returned back to his previous settings
with further changes to the Ohlins rear shock absorber and a different rear
ride height, this turned out to be "spot on" for the race giving him
excellent feel from his machine. The track temperature for the race at 3.50
was up allowing the riders to use the softer Pirelli SC0 compound rear
tyres, these tyres give excellent grip in hotter conditions. The race got
underway on time and Jason got an average start and came around on lap 1 in
12th position, with the fast and furious pace many of the riders crashed in
the early stages of the race allowing those still circulating to climb up
the leader board. By lap 7 Jason was in a strong 6th place and not far
behind the leading group, on the last lap Jason made a pass on Ben Wilson
(Gearlink Kawasaki) and crossed the finishing line in a brilliant 4th place
only 3 seconds behind the winner James Westmoreland on the factory backed
(Came Yamaha) R6. This result now puts Jason in 10th position in the
Championship just 4 points behind multiple TT winner Ian Hutchinson. Great
ride Jason.
Pat had a good opening lap and came around in 19th place and by lap 7 was up
to a brilliant 10th position also benefiting from the mistakes of other
riders. The last 9 laps Pat was in a close battle with Jesse Trayler
(Gearlink Kawasaki) they were constantly swopping places on track, Pat
eventually getting the better of Trayler with 2 laps to go. With clear track
in front of him Pat produced his fastest 2 laps of the race and crossed the
finishing line in an excellent 10th position and more importantly 1st place
finish in the Cup Championship ahead of Max Hunt in 12th and Dan Kneen in
14th. Pat now has strengthened his lead in the Championship with 132 points
some 24 points ahead of Max Hunt in second. A great outcome for the team
with smiles all round. We are now 2/3 of the way through the season and we
revisit Cadwell Park on the 30th of August for round 9, a challenging track
which we are all looking forward to.
