Ben rode the Wylie and Holland Racing Yamaha R6 to a superb placing after another weekend of bad luck for the team in the Fuchs Silkolene British Supersport Championship.
Ben started the weekend well, with an average speed of over 100mph on the notoriously fast Norfolk circuit. He placed himself twenty second in the first session, giving the team enough data to further set the bike up for the second outing. The Market Drayton rider knocked almost a second off his time in the second session, with his best time of the weekend, riding the two mile circuit in under a minute and ten seconds, giving him a top twenty placing.
Qualifying was the next session, and Ben banked a time early, placing him in a provisional 29th on the grid. This was to be his final placing, after he had a mechanical problem, causing him to pull the bike over at the second corner and abandon the session. The team worked hard to get last years bike ready for the second session, which would be their only set up time in readiness for the race the next day. This was to no avail, as the afternoon turned to rain, further hindering them, and leaving them with just the ten minute warm up to get the bike right.
“The 2007 bike is so different to my 2008 bike, but I had no option, but to use it. It is not as smooth as my other bike, and we struggled slightly with set up and time.” Commented the down heartened racer.
Ben flew off the eighth row of the grid at the start of the fifth race of the Championship in his usual style, making up places into the first corner. With such little time to set the bike up for the race, Ben rode like the wind pushing himself and machine to the limit, and managing to finish the shortened race in an acceptable 20th position, just behind the Isle of Man TT legend, John McGuiness. The race was stopped after only twelve of eighteen laps, when team mate, Midge Smart crashed, causing the red flags to come out.
“If the race had run full distance, I would have got into the points, in the top fifteen, but at least Midge is ok, and will be racing at Mallory.” Commented the local rider.
Crew Chief, Nathan Smith said, “It’s very doubtful that we will have the 08 bike ready for Mallory, but last years bikes will be ready to race, and we will have data from last year to help with set up, so we will be more prepared.”
Tony McPhilips, team manager commented that the weekend had been very trying, “Ben did really well considering the problems we had. This year has been an experiment, with the expansion of the team, and whilst we are pleased with many aspects, we are re-accessing the situation from Mallory onwards.” The team hope for their deserved results, after all the hard work and perseverance they have put into racing in the largest domestic championship in the world.
Ben and Midge now head for the Leicester based, Mallory park for the sixth round of the championship, on June 29th. Only the Fuchs Silkolene British Supersport side of the garage will be racing, as the paddock is limited on space, meaning the Superstock 600’s will not be in attendance.
