Round-Up: Silkolene BSB stars fire at Knockhill
Silkolene BSB stars fire at Knockhill
It was a weekend to remember for FUCHS Silkolene ambassadors as the Benetts British Superbike Championship headed north of the border to Knockhill.
Race one provided a special moment for Danny Buchan, as the FS3-Racing Kawasaki rider celebrated his first victory at this level.
The six second advantage he held at the chequered flag was testament to a dominant display by the 26-year-old, who looked on course for a famous double before being denied when he crashed out while leading in the closing stages of race two.
On his first race triumph in BSB, Buchan said: “It’s not sunk in yet and I’m pretty overwhelmed by it, it was such a long race. It was a good race and I knew I could do a good job, mid race onwards I settled into a rhythm and brought the bike home and took my first win.
"Credit to the FS3 team for all the hard work that they have put in, to pick up my first win and the team’s first BSB win, it has been a long time coming. I’ve been trying and trying - it’s been a stressful three years for everyone around me. Thanks to all my family and friends who have always supported me."
The beneficiary of Buchan’s race two crash was Scott Redding and the Be Wiser Ducati driver now leads the championship after five rounds.
After storming through the field from a starting position of 15thto end race one in second, Redding went one better in race two to secure his fourth win of the season.
He said: “I knew I had the pace in the dry and went quicker in morning warm-up than I had done all weekend and, for the first race, slick tyres were the only real option.
“It was difficult to overtake as the dry line was only about a metre wide and it was very slippery if you went off it, so I just tried to pick them off one by one and not make any mistakes. It was a great race and a great result having started so far back.
“Danny was quick in both the wet and dry so I didn’t necessarily want to lead the second race as I felt I could have learnt a lot sitting behind him. When he came by me, I sat behind him, but we changed places a few times and when he went down, I picked up my pace again.”
Glenn Irwin, of the Quattro Plant JG Speedfit Kawasaki team, continued his strong form with ninth and tenth place finishes.
Kershaw Racing bounce back with a win
After a disappointing outing at Cadwell Park last weekend, Steve Kershaw and Stuart Clark found themselves back in the winner’s circle in the Molson Group British Sidecar Championship.
The reigning champions capitalised on pole position to claim race one by four seconds.
With race two abandoned because of the weather, the duo started race three from 10thspot but saw their hopes of challenging ended by a collision with a rival at the hairpin.
A new wheel arch was fitted by the team in double quick time, and Kershaw and Clark limited the damage to secure points with a 13thplace finish.
Rouse rises to Knockhill challenge
Morello Racing Kawasaki ace Chrissy Rouse produced his best performance of the season in the Pirelli National Superstock 1000 Championship.
Rouse was on the podium for the first time this season in race one at Knockhill, following up with an impressive fourth placed finish in race two.
His team-mate Tom Neave was also in the top 10 for both races.
Trimble the top dog
FUCHS Silkolene-backed Curtis Trimble claimed his first victory of the 2019 Dickies Junior Supersport season with an emphatic eight second success over his rivals.
It was a good day’s work for the Team 109 Kawasaki rider who finished sixth in race one.
Morgan’s frustrations increase
Ciceley Motorsport star Adam Morgan was left frustrated by another British Touring Car Championship weekend where his fortunes were taken out of his own hands, this time at his local track of Oulton Park.
The Lancashire driver was looking well set for a strong weekend when he qualified 11thand had moved into the top ten well into race one.
But a clash with Ash Sutton – who apologised to Morgan – took him out of the first race and left him starting from 29thin race two.
Morgan, however, showed all his fighting spirit to battle through the field to 19thin race two before ending on a high note with a 10thplaced finish in the last action of another eventful BTCC weekend.
Kirsty on a Retro roll
Drifting ace Kirsty Widdrington made it through to the top 16 in the Retro Drift Challenge at Santa Pod Raceway.
Kirsty capitalised on a spin from her rival to reach the top 16.
Royal Engineers celebrating
The Royal Engineers Enduro Team have claimed the service team honours at the Welsh 2 Day Enduro 2019.
The team of Jake Purcell, Cameron Young and Nathan Baggott dug deep to take home the trophy.
Bart curses his luck
Myerscough College motorsport representative Bart Lang was left cursing his luck after being denied his best ever result in the Junior British Rally Championship in Belgium.
The youngster was on course for his first ever podium at this level in Ypres Rally, only for gearbox issues to dash his hopes.
Super performances in Supersport
Gearlink Kawasaki star Ben Wilson was in impressive form in round five of the Dickies British Supersport Championship at Knockhill.
Wilson finished fourth in both the Sprint Race, delayed to Sunday due to the weather, and in the feature race.
Wilson was trying several different settings over the weekend, having not raced at Knockhill since 2015. He ended up qualifying in 11th place on the grid and pushed hard in the tough, wet conditions on Sunday morning during the first Supersport race, working his way through the field to a fantastic fourth place.
In race two he started from seventh on the grid. The race was dry but windy and Ben got one of his famous starts and was lying in fifth after the opening lap. Despite dropping back, he got his head down and pushed hard to finish in another strong fourth place.
His team-mate Ross Twyman qualified down in 18th place. However, he pushed hard during the opening Sprint race to work his way through to a strong ninth place after the 15-laps.
He was placed 14th on the grid for the second race and got another great start. He was soon moving up through the field and pushed hard to finish in a very good sixth place.
Alastair Seeley recorded his ninth podium finish this season during a character-building weekend at Knockhill, which also saw him unceremoniously dumped out of action in the middleweight Sprint race whilst disputing a strong top four finish.
His team-mate David Allingham also battled the elements, with the British Superbike Championship rookie taking two points’ scoring finishes aboard the CF Motorsport prepared EHA Racing Yamaha YZF-R1.
With the Supersport races run almost back-to-back on Sunday at Knockhill, because of a schedule change due to inclement weather the day before, it left the EHA Racing team with little time to prepare Seeley’s damaged bike for the feature race.
But prepared it was, and Seeley made the most of the opportunity to claw back some much-needed points that were lost in race one by taking third place. Seeley now trails Jack Kennedy in the title race by just four points.
