4 victories and 11 podiums for FUCHS Silkolene at IOMTT
FUCHS Silkolene riders excel on Isle of Man
FUCHS Silkolene backed riders were on exceptional form at the Isle of Man TT, producing 4 victories and 11 podiums.
After multiple delays for poor weather, Peter Hickman led the way with an incredible three wins en route to claiming the Joey Dunlop TT Championship for the second time in three years.
The Smiths Racing rider claimed the Superbike race at the start of the week, and then secured two race wins in a day – the second Supersport and the Superstock races.
“I don’t know what it is about this class, the last couple of years I’ve been so strong,” said Hickman.
“The Smith Racing team has given me such a good bike and BMW make such a fantastic S1000RR machine and the rest is history.
“I just get on and ride it and, for whatever reason, it all just clicks.”
The quadruple success for FUCHS Silkolene ambassadors was completed by Dean Harrison who claimed the Senior TT.
Harrison said: “I’m over the moon. You never know in this race, anything can happen here. I just kept going at the same pace. To do it over the full distance – six laps with two pit stops – makes it very special.”
Robinson and Collis on fire in the Forest
Matthew Robinson and Sam Collis won round three of the FUCHS LUBRICANTS Motorsport UK British Historic Rally Championship in Saturday’s ATL Carlisle Stages.
On a tough day in Kielder Forest, many crews hit problems and the list of retirements included former championship leaders Joe Price and Chris Brooks with engine problems.
However, Robinson stormed through the wet and slippery stages to take his second win of the season and move to the head of the points as Simon Webster and Jez Rogers came close to victory. Stanley Orr/Grahame Henderson (Ford Escort Mk1) netted another Category 2 win while Category 1 went to Bob Bean and Malcolm Smithson (Lotus Cortina).
Webster and Rogers were clearly on a mission in some truly tough conditions and, going into the final stage, Webster was four seconds clear at the head of the pack after a superb performance.
But it all went wrong in Kershope. Having rolled his Escort Mk1 and lost time, Gary Smith re-joined just ahead of Webster and, in the course of three miles, the previous leader lost half a minute.
Webster was enraged, commenting: “That’s cost us our best ever result.”
A notional time was later applied which handed them back second place, only eight seconds down on Robinson, but it could have been a first win at this level for Webster.
Meanwhile, Robinson had elected to ease his pace a little and conserve the car for a pending trip to the Midnight Sun Rally in early July. But his measured pace, capped by a stage win in Kershope, was enough to clinch his second BHRC victory in a row.
Behind Webster by just nine seconds, Rob Smith and Neil Cook grabbed third after easily their best performance since Smith’s return to gravel at the start of the season.
Rudi Lancaster and Guy Weaver struggled to the end of Florida 1 with a puncture and dropped 15 seconds, but then set a strong pace on the final Kershope stage to fight back to fourth. Another impressive day for Paul Street/Ian Jones wrapped up the top five.
Others out of luck included Adrian Hetherington/Ronan O’Neil, who suffered a broken suspension, and Ben Friend/Cliffy Simmons, who had a stub axle shear. John Perrott and Andrew Sankey limped home but lost a lot of time after rolling their Escort Mk1 at the same corner that claimed Smith.
In Category 2, Orr and Henderson won again over Chris Browne/Ali Cornwell-Browne. Orr went on too hard a compound in the morning, but upped his pace later to finish sixth overall.
With Josh Browne out with a damaged axle, David Lloyd-Roberts and Dei Jones were worthy winners of class D3, while Stuart Cariss revelled in the grip from new front tyres after retiring the previous seven rallies-old set. Partnered by wife Linda, he won class C2 and came close to a top 10 result overall.
Morgan aiming for BTCC boost
Adam Morgan and Dan Rowbottom head up the Ciceley Motorsport team hoping for an upturn in fortunes in the BTCC at Croft this weekend.
