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Reeves takes Jock Taylor Trophy at Knockhill

Using Maxton's GP10 rear shock, Tim Reeves enjoyed a successful weekend of racing at Knockhill at the weekend when the Kent driver and passenger Gregory Cluze won all three races at the annual Jock Taylor 'Super Prix' meeting. Held in memory of Scotland's former World Champion and 4-times Isle of Man TT winner, Tim and Gregory were unbeatable throughout the two days of action and Tim was finally able to lay his hands on one of the most sought after trophies in sidecar racing.

After qualifying in third place for the three 10-lap races, albeit by just 0.056s, Tim slotted into 3rd place at the end of the opening lap of Saturday's race before moving up to second a lap later. By lap 3, he'd taken the lead from Phil Bell/Ashley Hawes and he was able to control things from the front, eventually coming home 1.390s clear. Sunday's opening race saw Tim have it a lot easier and he led the race from start to finish, taking the chequered flag some 3.337s ahead of the same Bell/Hawes combination. The final race around the 1.287-mile circuit was again a start to finish victory for Tim and Gregory and they were able to ease off in the final stages to complete their hat-trick, this time 0.497s ahead of Bell and Hawes.

The event, held 28 years to the day since Taylor tragically lost his life at the Finnish GP at Imatra, was taking place at Knockhill for the final time and there was further joy for Tim when he was informed that the Taylor trophy would remain in his house for keeps.

Speaking afterwards, a delighted Tim said; "Jock was my undoubted hero when I was a young child growing up in the paddock at all the races* so to finally get my name on the trophy awarded in his memory is a true honour and a dream come true. It's something I've always wanted to win but circumstances have prevented me from having a real good crack at it since 2004 and this weekend really couldn't have gone any better. I was quite conservative with my tyres for the weekend and the rest of the boys kept me honest in each and every race but I was able to do just enough in each of them to keep them at bay. The weather was fantastic and the event got a superb crowd so it's been a really enjoyable meeting to be part of and to keep the trophy forever is the icing on the cake."

Tim now has a two-week before his next race, with the penultimate round of the 'Battle of Britain' British F1 Sidcecar Championship taking place at Brands Hatch over the August Bank Holiday weekend.

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Aztec GP grab a podium

Andy Reid delivered Aztec GP’s best performance with a superb ride here at Cadwell Park. Starting from P10 on the grid for Monday’s race, he took the chequered flag to finish P2 in the Academy Cup and P3 overall.

A great start saw Andy running in P8 on the first lap. Ed Rendell, who was mixing it with Rob Guiver at the front, had picked up a jump start penalty of 20 seconds, so was effectively out of the picture. As the race developed, the emergence of the pace car “bunched” everyone up again. After the race restarted, the Aztec machine pulled away from the chasing pack and by midway Andy had settled in behind McPhee for P3. As the laps ticked down the frantic action of the early part of the race had subsided and everyone held station to the flag.

”This has been a great weekend for the whole team, but especially Andy, he has worked really hard to find and work on certain things today that would deliver this result”, commented Bryan. Andy added, “We found a good setting in warm up this morning and we were quicker than yesterday’s Q1. It’s been a great weekend for everyone and I am thrilled to have given the team their best result and first championship podium.”

The team rolls on to Croft in 2 weeks and would like to thank everyone for their support and messages of congratulation.

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Reeves and Cluze dominate at Brands with superb hat-trick

Using Maxton's GP10 rear shock, Tim Reeves and passenger Gregory Cluze dominated the latest round of the Eastern Airways 'Battle of Britain' British F1 Sidecar Championship with the Anglo-French pairing comfortably winning all three races at Brands Hatch over the weekend. The duo were unstoppable around the Indy circuit also setting pole position and recording the fastest lap in each race to tighten their grip on the Championship with three rounds remaining.

Despite only completing a handful of laps in the free practice session, Tim was immediately on the pace in the first qualifying session and, with a lap of 47.924s, he was able to comfortably slot into provisional pole position, some 0.741s clear of regular sparring partners Ben and Tom Birchall. The time was never seriously threatened in the second and final qualifying session so Tim didn't feel the need to go out and push further, instead concentrating on running a few parts in for the first 16-lap race on Sunday.

With conditions good for the first race, Tim and Gregory immediately hit the front on their LCR Honda outfit and they simply dominated proceedings, going on to record a start to finish victory. Aided by the fastest lap of the race, a 48.260s, they eventually crossed the line some 6.078s clear of the Birchalls. The second race, held on Monday, was a lot closer in the initial stages and having led for the opening two laps, Tim and Gregory were relegated to second by the Birchalls. However, they re-took the lead on lap 5 and, with the fastest lap of the race once more, they continued to edge clear and went on to take the chequered flag by 2.597s. The final race was run in two parts and it proved to be the most comfortable of wins for Tim and Gregory as they blitzed the field in both parts of the race, taking their third win of the weekend by a whopping 12.239s. The hat-trick saw them move on to a total of 268 points and so open up a 44-point lead in the title race.

Talking later, a delighted Tim said: "It's been an absolutely brilliant weekend and I really don't think it could have gone any better. It was pretty much perfect to be honest and went exactly to plan - to come away with all three wins and an extended Championship lead was exactly what we wanted. The bike's working really well so once I'd got pole position, I didn't feel the need to keep going round and round so I just did a few laps to scrub in some tyres and bed in a new chain just to make sure everything was 100% for the races. I was able to save the engine for the races as well and with the pace I had I was able to control things from the front. Ben challenged me in the second race but I just sat behind him for a couple of laps and bided my time and once I'd got by again I was able to pull away. We've got a busy end to the season but, like I say, the bike's working fantastically well and the whole team are doing a great job so let's hope for more of the same at the final few meetings."

Tim now heads to Magny Cours, France for the final round of the World Sidecar Championship where he still has a chance of claiming his fourth title. The meeting takes place from September 10-12.

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Cox in the top ten at Cadwell

Victor Cox battled his way from the fourth row of the grid to finish in the top ten in the latest round of the Metzeler National Superstock 1000 Championship at Cadwell Park on Bank Holiday Monday.Victor was consistently quick throughout the weekend, in Free Practice on Saturday morning he posted a time 1:32.47 to finish ninth and improved on this time by over half a second in the First Qualifying session. The session was held in dry conditions although caution had to be exercised as light rain was reported at Hall Bends. Undaunted, Victor posted a lap of 1:31.72 on his final lap of the session to consolidate his ninth place and place him as the top Kawasaki runner on both occasions.

With the second session to come, Victor was looking strong for a high qualifying position but his aim of moving up the classification was thwarted when he slipped off at the chicane in the closing stages and he was left to look on in frustration as he subsequentally dropped three places to twelfth. With only three riders per row on the grid, Victor was back on the fourth row and both he and the team knew that he could possibly have his work cut out on the tight, twisty Cadwell Park circuit where passing opportunities are scarce. Nevertheless Victor put in his usual determined performance and gave it a real go. Dropping a place in the first two laps, he got past Steve Plater on the third lap to move back to twelfth where he remained for the next few laps, albeit almost a 1.5 seconds down on James Hillier in eleventh at the end of the fifth lap.

A sixth lap of 1:31.02 then moved Victor to within a second and with another solid lap of 1:31.14 he was now right on the tail of Hillier as Luke Quigley crashed out moving Victor up to eleventh. A further move up the standings seemed inevitable and that move came a lap later as he got past Hillier and with a bit of clear track Victor set his sights on Howie Mainwaring and Kenny Gilbertson who were battling for eighth. With three laps to go Victor was safe in tenth but trailed the duo in front by over two seconds however a couple more consistent laps in the 1:31 bracket closed him to within 0.294secs of Gilbertson at the flag and less than a second away from seventh place man Barry Burrell, leaving Victor to rue the decision by the organisers to cut the race by a lap in favour of an extra warm-up lap. However another strong performance from Victor who now looks forward to the next installment of the Championship in two weeks time at one of his favourite circuits Croft.

Meanwhile there was disappointment for David Pearce in the Metzeler National Superstock 600 class. The young Manxman finished 20th in his group in Free Practice with a time of 1:39.23 and in First Qualifying he also went over half a second quicker at 1:38.63. Any hopes of further improving on this were dashed as the second session was held in wet conditions with David finishing 14th in the group. The omission of the normal shoot-out race from the programme denied David the opportunity to possibly take his place on the grid for the main race.

Team boss Ian Lougher: 'The team were in action at Cadwell Park for the second time this season and it proved to be a very challenging weekend. It was the end of May the first time we were at Cadwell Park this year on what turned out to be probably one of the hottest weekends of the year, and for our return visit we were confident we had a solid dry set-up for both the Kawasaki ZX-6R Superstock and ZX-10R Superstock machines. But, this time the weather was decidedly mixed and the team had to deal with torrential downpours followed by sunshine both accompanied by high winds throughout the two days of qualifying, making our dry suspension set-up completely ineffectual, and moreover, tyre choice became a lottery.

Having been working closely with Richard from Maxton Suspension throughout the year, which I must say has been fantastic, I am more than impressed with the quality of both rear shocks and front fork kits. Richard was, as always, on hand during qualifying and his advice and expertise got us through a difficult weekend and was pivotal to Victor's overall results.

So after a tough weekend I think Victor achieved a good result finishing 10th on a circuit that is so difficult to overtake on, and all the team were once again impressed by his sheer determination and riding skills.

As for our Junior 600 Superstock rider, David Pearce, he was terribly unlucky not to qualify for the Superstock 600 race, missing qualifying by 2 places, after rain spoiled his second Group A qualifying session and put paid to any chance of him joining the main grid. The Junior 600 Superstock class has a strongly supported field made up of young riders with a broad spread of racing experience and because of the number of riders in the class it is usually split into 2 groups for qualifying with a shoot out race for riders not qualifying in the top 28. But for some reason there wasn't a shoot out race at the Cadwell round this time, which in my view, was unfair, and left a lot of disappointed young riders. David was obviously downbeat at not qualifying, and I hope he can put it behind him, coming out more determined for the next round at Croft in 2 weeks time. He remains a very talented young rider and shouldn't let this setback get him down.'

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Four timer for Farquhar at Munster 100

Using Maxton's GP30 fork cartridges and GP10 rear shock, Ryan Farquhar's excellent form at the Irish National road races continued on Sunday when he took four wins at the Munster 100 Dunmanway road races in Cork, Southern Ireland. The KMR Kawasaki rider won the Open race and Grand Final on his 1000cc machine, the 450cc/125cc race on the 450cc Kawasaki and also the Super Twins race on his ER6 650cc machine.

The re-introduced races, held on a 1.8-mile circuit, were a popular addition to the 2010 calendar after a long absence although the weather on Saturday did its best to spoil things and constant rain meant that practice was untimed and grid positions determined by Championship positions. Thankfully, race day was a lot better and Ryan kicked off his day with victory in the Open race although it was a close run thing with Michael Dunlop pushing him all the way, the gap between the two just 0.7s at the chequered flag. Dunlop then turned the tables on Ryan in the Supersport 600cc race and he had to settle for second on this occasion, seven seconds adrift of his younger rival.

That proved to be Ryan's only defeat of the day and he made it win number 2 with a comprehensive 12.5s victory over William Dunlop in the concurrently run 125cc/450cc race. Again proving his excellent versatility, Ryan was then back out on the ER6 Kawasaki for the Super Twins and he duly completed his hat-trick with another dominant performance, this time coming home ahead of similarly-mounted John Burrows by 13 seconds. That left just the Grand Final and Ryan wasn't going to be denied his fourth win of the day and he again romped home for the victory, this time ending the race 3.6seconds ahead of his nearest rival, Michael Dunlop. He also set the fastest lap of the day, a new outright lap record, at 81.075mph.

Speaking later, a delighted Ryan said: "It's been another really enjoyable weekend of racing and although the circuit was one of the bumpiest, tightest ones I've ever ridden on, the club did an absolutely fantastic job. They made everyone feel very, very welcome and they really couldn't have done any more for us so it was great to see race day have some fine weather a real good crowd turn out. The circuit was a bit like a mini-Macau or like the go-kart track that was used in Peel on the Isle of Man and it was real hard work on the 600cc and 1000cc machines so the smaller bikes definitely suited the circuit more but I was able to take another 4 wins and had a great time. I'll definitely look forward to coming back here in 2011."

Ryan now has a well-earned break from racing with his next outing coming at the Killalane road races on September 11-12, the final round of the 2010 Irish Road Race Championship.

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Lougher re-writes the Ulster GP history book

Using Maxton's GP30 fork cartridges and GP10 rear shock absorbers, Ian Lougher became the second most successful rider in the history of the Ulster Grand Prix when he romped to victory in the 250cc race in Saturday's event. The win takes the popular Welshman to 15 wins, one more than Philip McCallen with only the great Joey Dunlop having secured more victories. Ian also moves into joint second with 18 wins in the all-time list of most victories round the Dundrod circuit, ahead of such notables as Ray McCullough, Brian Reid and Robert Dunlop with again Joey Dunlop topping the list.

Rea Estates 250cc Race

Ian's win on Norman Rank's, Pirate/Berwick Racing 250 was a brilliant display of speed racing, taking the race by the scruff of the neck from the lights he was simply unstoppable as he extended his lead on virtually every lap. An opening lap of 116.87mph gave him a lead of nearly four seconds and by the second lap the lead was up to around five seconds from William Dunlop. A blistering third lap of 120.12mph, just under Darren Lindsay's 2006 lap record, effectively broke any resistance from Dunlop and gave Ian a lead of almost ten seconds at the halfway stage. Ian was able to ease up for the remainder of the race and crossed the line at the finish just over ten seconds in front of Dunlop with Paul Robinson in third. The win made up for the disappointment of the 125cc race in Thursday's Dundrod 150 when Ian was forced to retire whilst battling for the lead with William Dunlop.

Lisburn City Council Superstock Race

The first race on the programme, and from fifth on the second row of the grid Ian was soon in the mix and at the end of the opening lap he was up to fourth behind Amor, Hutchinson and Farquhar. By lap three Amor and Hutchinson had broke clear with Farquhar on his own in third, behind them Gary Johnson was fourth with Ian right behind. On the next lap however Lougher and Johnson were very much on the move and were right on Farquhar's case and as they crossed the line together at the end of the lap Ian was back up to to fourth. On the fifth lap the trio were locked together, however Ian overhauled Ryan Farquhar, moving into 3rd place and having eeked out a comfortable margin on the Ninja ZX-10R, a podium looked secure. But an incident further down the order forced the race to be red flagged, bringing the race to a premature conclusion and with the result being taken from the end of the previous lap, the Blackhorse Kawasaki team boss had to concede his 3rd place finish to finish just off the podium in 4th.

Strong Construction Supersport Race

Having decided to give the second Supersport race a miss later in the day, Ian and the team pinned their Supersport hopes on this one race. However there was to be disappointment as Ian unfortunately came off the ZX-6R at the Hairpin when Manxman Dan Kneen accidently hit the pit lane speed limiter button on his handlebar causing his bike to virtually stop, and with Lougher poised for an over taking manouvre, a collision was unavoidable. Luckily Ian was unscathed and the damage to the machine was minimal.

Stoneyford Concrete/The Peoples UGP Superbike Race 1

Ian opted to ride the Ninja ZX-10R Superstock bike in both Superbike races and from the off a small group made a break for it, behind them Ian was leading a seven man express train out of Leathemstown Corner. As they completed the first circuit Ian was eighth just over a second behind Gary Johnson. Cameron Donald dropped back on the next lap as Ian battled on with James McBride, Dan Kneen and Michael Pearson for company. McBride got ahead of Lougher on the third lap with Kneen following suit on the next lap but there was nothing between the three and Ian doggedly fought back to overhaul Kneen once again. The battle between the two had allowed McBride to open up a small cushion and at the chequered flag he was able to secure seventh with Ian fending off the challenge of Kneen to finish a battling eighth.

visitlisburn.com Superbike Race 2

The final race of the day, the second Superbike race, got off to a hectic start with Ian right in the mix as they arrived at Leathemstown. As with the first superbike race a small group was attempting to go clear whilst right behind them was Guy Martin, Lougher and Bruce Anstey. At the conclusion of the lap Martin and Anstey had opened up a small gap on Ian with Gary Johnson joining them. A lap later and Ian was in a relatively safe eighth place but the next lap saw him come under pressure from a three man group which included William Dunlop, James McBride and Michael Pearson. The next two laps to the finish would see Ian draw upon every ounce of his experience and skill to fend off his rivals and secure another eighth place superbike finish on his Superstock bike.

In conclusion, a satisfying Ulster Grand Prix for Ian Lougher. The disappointment of the non-finishes in the 125cc and Supersport races were tempered with that brilliant 250cc win and a fine fourth in the Superstock race. A lap of 130.2mph on the Superstock Ninja ZX-10R was also a great effort.

Ian Lougher: ''I always enjoy the Ulster GP, to me it's the best pure road race in the world, and this year's event was no exception...once you have been parked up in your allocated slot that is!! My win on Rico Mendel/Norman Rank's 250 was a lonely ride, but I got my head down from the drop of the flag and went for it, as I was unsure as to how strong William Dunlop and Paul Robinson would be once they got more laps under their belts. I have to thank Norman, Stephen, Uwe, Wata and all the German contingent for making this win possible..mega.

It was not such a great day on the 600 for me, Dan Kneen's error resulting in me hitting the back of him on the way out of the hairpin and I almost got a pillion ride with him for the rest of the race..sadly that was that - game over!!

I was happy with my Superstock ride on our Blackhorse Kawasaki ZX-10R finishing in 4th position, and felt both the bike and I were performing well. Although I had made it past Ryan Farquhar into 3rd place when the red flags came out, so the results were taken from the previous lap which was a bit of a shame as I would have liked to have given my sponsors, Kawasaki and the rest of my team who worked so hard during the meeting another rostrum position, but it was not to be.

As for the Superbike races, my own Superbike had developed a problem earlier in the meeting, so it was always going to be a struggle riding my Superstock bike against full blown Superbikes, but I ended up with two 8th place finishes and a fastest lap of 130.2mph. So all in all it was not too bad.''

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Mixed fortunes for Farquhar at Ulster GP

Using Maxton's GP30 fork cartridges and GP10 rear shock, Ryan Farquhar suffered mixed fortunes at the Ulster Grand Prix Bikeweek and although he was able to take two wins and a podium, this was offset by a number of machinery problems that caused him to miss all three Superbike races as well as retire from the second Supersport 600cc race. However, the KMR Kawasaki rider did manage to chalk up a brace of victories in the two Super Twins races as well as take a hard earned podium in the Superstock race.

Thursday's Dundrod 150 races saw Ryan's day get off to the worst possible start when the engine broke on his Superstock machine and he had to miss both the Ulster GP practice and the Dundrod 150 Superbike race. However, he bounced back from this disappointment with a comfortable 14.9s win in the Super Twin race also setting a new lap record of 116.118mph. The good fortune didn't last long though when he was forced to retire from the Classic race after a wire broke on the 500cc Paton whilst involved in a great dice with similarly mounted Olie Linsdell.

Saturday's Ulster GP race day dawned dry and bright and up first was the 7-lap Superstock race, which was expected to be one of Ryan best races. Sure enough, he slotted in to third place at the end of the first lap and although he was lapping in excess of 131mph, he was unable to stay with Ian Hutchinson and Keith Amor due to an oil leak that was steadily putting more and more oil on to his footpegs. As he was forced to ease the pace, he was overhauled by Ian Lougher and Gary Johnson but, just as he had been pushed back to fifth, the red flag came out on the sixth lap due to an incident and with results taken at the end of the fifth lap, he was awarded the 3rd position.

In the opening Supersport 600cc race, Ryan was mired back in the pack on the opening lap but was up to 7th second time around and for the rest of the race he was involved in a terrific tussle with the two Relentless by TAS Suzuki's of Bruce Anstey and Cameron Donald. After exchanging places throughout, he eventually got the better of Anstey on the fifth lap but Donald overhauled the pair of them to take over in sixth going in to the final lap. However, he retired on the final lap handing the position back to Ryan.

It was then the 6-lap Super Twin race and it was a race Ryan, quite simply, dominated. Leading from start to finish, he eventually took the chequered flag by over 40 seconds, also breaking his own two-day lap record with a new speed of 116.683mph. Forced to miss both of the Superbike races due to the aforementioned oil leak, Ryan's final race of the day was the second Supersport 600cc but, down on speed, he pulled in at the end of the opening lap.

Speaking later, Ryan said: "It's been an up and down meeting for me and after going really well during Wednesday's opening practice sessions, Thursday couldn't have been more different. When I started the big bike up, I heard a horrible rattle so had little option but to park it for the day and, aside from a comfortable victory in the Super Twins race, the whole team's efforts were concentrated on sorting the big bike out. It put me on the back foot quite a bit as it meant I missed out on about an hour and half's practice compared to the other riders. Nick Morgan sent over the Superstock engine I'd used at the NW200 and TT and I got a flier of a start in the Superstock race but my feet started to slip off the pegs quite early on and I simply had to ride as steady as I could. When I looked down a couple of times, I could see oil on both sides so luck was definitely on my side when the red flag came out and I was pleased to get 3rd given the circumstances. At the same time, I was a bit disappointed as I had to park the bike for the rest of the day and we've finished nearly every race on the big bike for the last two years so it was a shame to miss the two big bike races."

"The Super Twin race was shaping up to be a real close race between myself and Dan Kneen but when he went out, it gave me some clear road and I was just able to enjoy the race. The ER6 is a fantastic wee bike and I was delighted to take another Ulster GP win so a big thank you to Kawasaki and everyone else that's helped me along the way with it. As for the Supersport races, I was simply struggling for speed and we need to do a fair bit of work over the winter to get back on terms with the Hondas and Yamahas. I'm just looking forward to the end of the season now and then, hopefully, get hold of one of the all new ZX-10 machines so we can have a real good go again next year. Like I say, it's been an up and down meeting for me but it could have been a lot worse so thanks to all the team and to the fans for cheering me on."

Ryan now plans to head to the new Cork road race meeting, which takes place next weekend August 21-22.

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Four more wins for Farquhar at Armoy!

Using Maxton's GP30 fork cartridges and GP10 rear shock, the Ryan Farquhar success train showed no signs of slowing down at the weekend when the KMR Kawasaki rider added four more wins to his 2010 collection. The Dungannon rider was competing at the second running of the Armoy road races and with victories in the Grand Final, Open, Super Twins and 450 races, as well as runner-up spot in the Supersport 600cc race, it was another superb day's racing for the 34-year old.

After Friday's practice sessions were almost entirely wiped out by poor weather, Saturday didn't get off to the greatest starts when more damp weather meant the riders had just a handful of untimed practice laps under their belt before racing got underway. Thankfully, the weather improved and the roads were completely dry when racing commenced. First up for Ryan was the 6-lap 450cc race which he comfortably won on his KX450 Kawasaki from Seamus Elliott and he followed this up with a close fought second to Keith Amor in the Supersport 600cc race, the Scotsman just coming out on top on the last lap by 0.157s. Ryan's third race of the day was the Open race and, after grabbing the lead on the opening lap, he was able to control affairs from the front of the field and got the better of Amor on this occasion by 2.024s.

The penultimate race of the day was the Super Twins race which saw Ryan get his third win, coming home over seven seconds clear of Michal Dokoupil and that just left the 'Race of Legends' Grand Final where he again went head to head with Amor. The duo went at it hammer and tongs throughout with Amor opening up a lead of 4-5 bike lengths on the last lap but as the duo approached the final corner, two backmarkers had to be negotiated and whilst Amor went on the outside, Ryan dived up the inside. Keith collided with one of the backmarkers and then he and Ryan also had a coming together but in the dash to the line, Ryan got the verdict by 0.153s.

Talking later, a delighted Ryan said, "It's been a really enjoyable day's racing and, after the problems with the rain on Friday, it was great to get the racing all run in decent, dry conditions whilst it was also really good to battling it out with Keith once more. In the first Superbike race, I got a good start and opened up a bit of a gap so from then on I was able to ride to my boards and control the gap. The Supersport was a lot tougher and although I led from the first lap again I just couldn't shake Keith off and he was right on my rear wheel throughout. I knew he was going to come by at some stage and he left it until the final lap, slipstreaming by me, to leave me in a close second."

"The 450cc and Super Twins races were fairly comfortable so that just left the Grand Final where I knew it would be between my and Keith once more. He led from the off this time but on the last corner of the last lap we encountered some backmarkers and it all got a bit messy. It was no-ones fault and just one of things but I was able to get the power down first and pip him to the line to complete another good day. I'm really happy with my riding at the moment and it sets me up nicely for this week's Ulster GP. It's not going be easy though, especially as I won't have the use of a Superbike unfortunately, but I'll be giving it my all and just see where we end up on the day."

Ryan now heads to the Dundrod circuit for the Ulster GP Bikeweek with the Dundrod 150 races taking place on Thursday 12th and the Ulster GP races taking place on Saturday 14th August.

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Metzeler National Superstock Championships - Brands Hatch

Using Maxton's GP30 fork cartridges and GP10 rear shock absorbers, Victor Cox had the misfortune to crash out of Round 8 of the Metzeler National Superstock 1000 Championship at Brands Hatch on Sunday, but not before the Blackhorse Kawasaki teamster had once again shown that both he and the team's Ninja ZX-10R are more than capable of running at the cutting edge of proceedings.

The 24 year old from Trowbridge has shown great form since he replaced the injured Conor Cummins in June and free practice on Friday morning saw Victor finish the session ninth quickest with a time of 1:30.96secs. First Qualifying later in the afternoon would see Victor maintain his ninth place from earlier in the day with an improved time of 1:30.15 and he was confident of further improving his grid position in the second session on Saturday, however damp conditions for the session put paid to this and therefore he started the race from ninth but confident of mounting a serious challenge from the third row of the grid.

The race was less than a lap old when the safety car was introduced after Dennis Hobbs and Gavin Hunt crashed at Graham Hill Bend, by this time Victor was already up to seventh and when racing resumed at the end of the fourth lap he soon moved into sixth place and immediately set his sights on fifth placed Barry Burrell. With an excellent lap of 1:29.06, which would prove to be the fourth quickest of the race, he closed right up on his fellow Kawasaki mounted rival and looked set to occupy fifth place and line up Howie Mainwaring for fourth. Unfortunately as Victor arrived at Westfield, Burrell missed a gear giving Victor no chance of taking avoiding action, both riders went down with Victor re-mounting and returning to the pits to bring his race to a disappointing end.

However there were positives to be taken from the race. Victor was more than comfortable mixing it with the front runners and a fourth best overall lap time, despite only completing two real racing laps, was an excellent achievement. Victor is also completely at ease within his new team and on the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R.

For his team-mate David Pearce it was a weekend where the young rider again finished in the Top 20 in the Metzeler National Superstock 600 class. David took things steady in Free Practice and in First Qualifying he knuckled down to business to improve his lap time by almost three seconds and move up to 24th in the standings. Again, as with the Superstock 1000 class, second qualifying was affected by damp conditions which gave David no real chance to improve on his earlier time and so he started the race from Row 6 of the grid. For the first three laps of the race David ran in 25th position, then on lap five as he had worked his way up two places, the safety car came out following a crash which left the bike on fire in the middle of the track. The car went in on lap seven and David continued to ride strongly, and despite a bit of brake fade he managed to move up to 19th as the red flags went out to bring the race to a premature end with a lap remaining. Another fine performance from the young Manxman who was fifth fastest through the finish line speed trap at 147.8mph.

Blackhorse Kawasaki team manager Ian Lougher:
"That was a real shame for Victor, to crash out whilst in the hunt for a top placing was very disappointing. However we take encouragement from his fourth fastest lap of the race and by how much at ease he is running with the front runners, he was also happy with the team's Ninja ZX-10R. For David it was another solid weekend on the ZX-6R, he's improving all the time and is getting ever nearer to getting amongst the points."

It's a break for both riders now before the next round at Cadwell Park on 28/29/30 August. For team boss Ian Lougher though it's a quick dash home to Northern Ireland for the Ulster Grand Prix over the Dundrod Circuit. Practice for the event begins on Wednesday, there is more practice on Thursday along with the Dundrod 150 races, with the main event on Saturday August 14.

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