Round-Up: Brooked closes the gap on Redding in BSB
Mixed fortunes for our BSB ambassadors
PBM Be Wiser Ducati riders Josh Brookes and Scott Redding reinforced their championship credentials with superb performances at Thruxton last weekend.
Redding started race one from pole position on his track debut but, despite an audacious last corner attempt to pass eventual winner Andrew Irwin, he had to settle for second place with team-mate Brookes just behind in third.
After three re-starts in race two, Brookes led from start to finish to claim win number five to move to within 20 points of series leader Redding, who suffered a 15-second time penalty for running wide which relegated him outside the points, despite crossing the line in second.
Brookes’ success meant the winning run for the FUCHS Silkolene-backed PBM team continued to 11 wins in the last 13 races.
It was another challenging round for Quattro Plant JG Speedfit Kawasaki with 16th place for Spaniard Héctor Barberá their best finish in the two races.
Riding at the circuit for the very first time, Barberá’s cause took a major hit on Friday afternoon when he crashed heavily at Allard during the second free practice session sustaining a fracture of the tibia in the process.
The lack of laps meant he qualified back in 25th place with team-mate Ben Currie two places ahead of him.
A hectic opening lap saw Ben slot into 24th place and Héctor in 27th but on lap eight Matt Truelove crashed directly in front of the Australian and he had to take evasive action which dropped him all the way back to last place.
Unfortunately, he ultimately retired on the 14th of 20 laps but former MotoGP rider Barberá pushed all the way until the end and he eventually took the chequered flag in 20th place although, naturally, both he and the team were hoping for more.
The duo lined up on the sixth and eighth rows for the second race later in the day, Currie the better placed of the two, but the first attempt at running the race was stopped due to rain and then a crash involving Glenn Irwin saw his BMW deposit oil on the exit of the chicane and the race halted for a second time.
It was eventually restarted for the third time over just eight laps and the short sprint meant it was a hectic race for all concerned. Barberá again put in a spirited ride and was unlucky to miss out on the points in 16th after setting his fastest lap of the meeting during the race.
Currie took 20th place on this occasion and was four seconds behind his team-mate at the chequered flag.
Jack Valentine, Team Manager, said: “It’s been a really tough weekend again for the team, I can’t deny it. I know we are moving forward but I can’t get excited about it.
“Hopefully we can go to Cadwell and get some better results. The team did a fantastic job this weekend and we have to keep plugging away and we should get there.”
Meanwhile, Peter Hickman took the first podium of the season for Smiths Racing BMW.
Hickman followed up a strong P5 in race one with a well-deserved P3 in the second outing, now just 16 points adrift of the final Showdown position.
Kershaw at the double in Thruxton
Thruxton turned out to be a great meeting for the FUCHS Silkolene-backed Kershaw Racing team in the Molson Group British Sidecar Championship.
Steve Kershaw and Stuart Clark took first place in race one, passing for the lead on lap six of eight.
Race two saw a hard-fought P2, before the guys pulled out all the stops to win race three by one second from way back in ninth position.
For the Quattro Plant JG Speedfit Kawasaki team, it proved to be a good meeting for former champions Ricky Stevens and Ryan Charlwood as they took second and a brace of fourths during the course of the weekend to move up to sixth overall in the Championship standings.
Team-mates Ben Holland/Lee Watson bounced back from the disappointment of a first race retirement to finish in sixth place in race two before again failing to finish the third race.
Frustration mounts for Morgan
There was more frustration for our man Adam Morgan in BTCC action at Snetterton.
Having qualified well in P9, Morgan suffered gearbox failure in race one and was forced to retire.
He managed to fight his way to a P18 finish in race two, before overheating issues meant he had to pull out of race three as well.
“There is no point is denying it, these are tough times for everyone in the team,” said Morgan, “but we’re all sticking together.”
The second car, run under the Cataclean Racing with Ciceley Motorsport banner, of Dan Rowbottom fared a little better.
Rowbottom scored a second points finish of the season in race one, coming home in 15th.
Unfortunately, a first lap clash with Aiden Moffat brought race two to a premature end – and gearbox issues stopped his progress in race three despite good initial pace.
Paige takes to Karting
FUCHS-supported driver Paige Bellerby is scheduled to take part in a Kart Endurance race at the Rowrah race track later this month. Page will be a member of the Army team, and it will be a new experience for her.
“I’m looking forward to this race, as it’s something completely new – I’ve never raced Karts before” explained Paige “But it’s really great to be given such an exciting opportunity”.
CA1 Sport team triumph at Otterburn
Martin Wilkinson took his FUCHS-backed CA1 Sport rally team to the Otterburn army ranges in Northumberland last weekend to look after the Ford Fiesta WRC of Tom Preston / Andrew Roughead on the Tyneside Stages Rally.
Afterwards, Martin said: “Tom and Andrew had a really good weekend, they finished in the top three on all 12 of the tarmac stages to take the overall win, and the car ran faultlessly on a well organised event.”
The next event for the team is in Sweden, looking after Fredrik Ahlen and his Skoda Fabia R5 on the next round of Swedish Championship, the Kolsva rally on 16th/ 17thAugust.
Arm pump no problem for Harry
Harry Rowlings suffered a spot of arm pump in his Pirelli National Superstock 600 Championship race at Thruxton – but that didn’t stop coming home in 19thposition, with another PB lap time under his belt.
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All eyes on Worlds for Murray Motorsport
After drawing a grid position of 19th out of the hat for the NHRPA Championship, Gavin crossed the line in eighth in what was an incident filled race.
The team now looks forward to getting their heads down in the 2019/20 World Series Qualifying campaign at Buxton on August 18.
Freddie shows potential in Germany
Karter Freddie Housley competed in round three of the Euroseries at Wackersdorf in the Bavaria part of Germany, where temperatures reached a scorching 38 degrees.
Practice went well with times just five-tenths of a second off the fastest – and he followed that up by qualifying P23 out of 34 drivers.
A couple of time penalties hampered him in heat one, pushing him back to 27th, but Freddie gained ground in heat two to finish 18th.
A carburation problem set him back in heat three but he still managed 22nd, putting him 25thon the grid for the pre-final.
With a new engine, he finished an eventful race in P22.
A bent chassis threatened to ruin Freddie’s final and he dropped to 32nd, but he somehow managed to get the kart to do what he wanted and he worked his way through the field to a final position of 23rd.
The jet-setting team now has a four week break before round four in France.
