Collier Double at Brands Hatch
Joe Collier’s double win in the National 1000cc Superstock class on Saturday, aboard the In Competition prepared EHA Racing Aprilia RSV4 RF – which also rewarded the 23-year-old with an additional five bonus championship points – put him top of the series standings overnight.
It was a dogged result for Collier and the EHA Racing/In Competition squad, who were left with the task of rebuilding Joe’s bike after an incident during Saturday qualifying, where he was taken out by another rider – leaving them fighting against the clock to rebuild his Italian machinery.
Collier dusted himself off and won both legs of the two-part race as previously mentioned. Unfortunately Sunday produced Joe’s first non-finish of the season when he crashed out of race three on the opening lap, but regardless, he has moved into second place in the series standings, just 13 points off the lead.
Honest in his summing up, Joe said: “Yesterday could have been so much worse after being taken out in qualifying, but as always, Ian Newton and the boys in the EHA team did a superb job to give me a perfect bike despite working against the clock to get it ready. In the first part of the race I was down in around eighth place at one point, feeling a little battered and bruised, but just managed my tyre, didn’t panic and picked them off lap by lap to take the win.”
Speaking of race two he added: “The second race was a little different as a few of the front guys crashed around me, but again I had full confidence in the EHA Racing/In Competition RSV4 RF package and despite a few hard moves from the opposition in the closing laps, we managed to grab that second win. That was an important victory as it also gave us an additional five championship points, which could prove vital at the end of the season."
Reflecting on Sunday’s incident, which involved a red flag situation and a re-start, that unfortunately he could not take part in during race three, he said: “Of course I’m disappointed and I’ll hold my hands up and say I made a mistake. I got a bad start and coming out of turn two, I was just too eager on the throttle, with the lean angle I was carrying, and that was it. We could have been leading the championship leaving here this weekend, but taking the two incidents into consideration, I’m just happy not to have been badly injured as I was collected in Sunday’s crash after I slid off. I'm feeling a little battered and bruised but still very satisfied with our achievements on Saturday.”
“Thanks to the team for a great job as always. We can now look ahead to Thruxton knowing we have the package to again challenge at the sharp end for the top step.”
Picture: Joe on top - Courtesy of KGN Pillinger
