Round-Up: Oulton Park joy for FUCHS Silkolene
Oulton Park joy for FUCHS Silkolene
It was another successful weekend for those wearing the FUCHS Silkolene name on their leathers, as the British Superbike Championship headed to Oulton Park for a triple-header.
There was a win apiece for Josh Brookes and Scott Redding with the PBM Be Wiser Ducati Team.
Brookes took top spot on the podium in race one with Redding almost seven seconds behind in third.
But Redding got the better of his team-mate in the second outing in a Be Wiser Ducati 1-2.
Redding bagged himself a useful P3 in the final outing, but there was disaster for Brookes on lap 10 when he crashed out unhurt at Shell Oils corner.
Nevertheless, Brookes goes into the opening Showdown round of Assen with a three-point lead over Redding.
Also making up the Showdown top six are Danny Buchan of the Silkolene-supported FS-3 Racing team, and BMW Smith Racing’s Peter Hickman.
Hickman forms part of the leading six group of riders for the third season in succession after picking up a pair of P8 finishes at Oulton – despite missing the opening race following an incident before the re-start.
With 47 points separating Brookes in first and Hickman in seventh, the championship trophy is still very much up for grabs with seven races remaining.
Ben Currie claimed his best BSB career finish to date for the Quattro Plant JG Speedfit Kawasaki team.
Héctor Barberá suffered a heavy crash in free practice and had to sit out the opening race with a broken rib and fluid on the lung.
Currie, though, qualified in 13thand built on that to come home P11 in the opening race.
Both racers were forced to retire in race two.
Barberá, still nursing his injuries, sat out race three, but Currie managed 17thafter a bout of arm pump hampered progress.
Seeley suffers broken wrist
Alastair Seeley’s British Supersport Sprint race podium on Saturday (P2) was the highlight of a bittersweet weekend for the whole EHA Racing team.
Unfortunately, Seeley crashed out of Sunday’s feature middleweight encounter, breaking his wrist in the process.
Seeley will now certainly miss British championship’s European round later this month at Assen in the Netherlands.
Harry shows some magic
FUCHS Silkolene-backed Harry Fowle took a big step in the right direction in the ninth round of the Dickies Junior Supersport Championship at Oulton Park.
Fowle enjoyed the track layout from the off and qualified in P4.
The Isle of Sheppey rider followed that up with a P8 in race one and steadily climbed from there, registering a P7 in race two, and a sixth in the final outing, just five seconds shy of the winner.
Results heading north for Westy
It was another really strong weekend for the Gearlink Kawasaki team at round nine of the Dickies British Supersport Championship at Oulton Park.
Once again the team were running James Westmoreland and, whilst Ben Wilson recovers from injury, Fraser Rogers filled in on the Supersport bike.
Westy had another positive weekend with a fourth and another fantastic podium with a second.
Fraser adapted well to the Supersport machine well and got a 11th and eighth in the Supersport class.
Collier eyes up final two rounds
Joe Collier and CPD Kawasaki will now look forward to the final two rounds of their Pirelli National 1000cc Superstock Championship campaign at Donington and Brands Hatch in October, after an encouraging weekend at Oulton Park.
Collier took his best result of the season in the opening race of the weekend, posting seventh place aboard the CPD Kawasaki ZX-10RR, and despite a DNF in race two, believes the team can have podium aspirations before the season comes to a close.
Marines champions announced
The winners of the 2019 Royal Navy and Royal Marines Championships have been announced:
RN Champs
1st - Charlie White
2nd - Ross Obey
3rd - Max Wilmot
RM Champs
1st - Charlie White
2nd - Ross Obey
3rd - Danny Marston
Spooner signs for CV Racing
This week has seen an exciting update from CV Racing. For 2020 the team has decided to bring another rider into the ranks.
A statement read: “We are delighted to announce that current CB500 rider Chris Spooner will be joining the team next season, also racing an R6 in the Golden Era Supersport/Steelsport - Blackbird Corporate sponsored class.”
Ciceley Motorsport hoping for more joy
Ciceley Motorsport head into this weekend’s BTCC round at Knockhill in buoyant mood.
Rounds 19, 20 and 21 of the championship saw Adam Morgan’s Mercedes-Benz A-Class race to third, second and fourth across the three races at Thruxton.
It brought an end to a frustrating first half of the season for Ciceley. The team will be hoping that the tide has turned.
Housley suffers horror crash
Karter Freddie Housley suffered a terrifying accident while competing in Salbris in the Loir Valley of France – but then somehow managed his highest finish to date.
Freddie looked electric in practice and, despite making a few mistakes, qualified in 18th, his highest qualifying so far in the European Championships.
But then the drama. Starting 18th for heat one his engine wouldn’t clear at the start of the race so he went into the first corner in 26th place.
After three laps of the eight-lap race he had managed to get up to 12th and was lapping as fast as the leaders until disaster struck.
A kart moved into his path on a 60mph straight, which resulted in Freddie running up the other kart’s back wheel, catapulting him into the air and throwing him out of the kart at high speed with the kart barrel rolling down the straight.
After several minutes of panic he was on his feet and got lifted into the ambulance and took to the medical room. He amazingly walked out with a bruised knee and grazed head with his suit ripped to bits and his helmet written off.
He was very lucky but very scared.
After a few hours of calm he was taken to the accommodation to rest – but then a few hours later he announced he wanted to try practice the next day!
The next day came and he said he was too scared to sit in the kart and that’s how it was left until 10 minutes before practice when he emerged in full race wear borrowed from another team.
He said he wanted to go out at the back of the pack for the five-minute warm up practice – and, now with rain to contend with, he went eighth in the times on his first lap.
Freddie then decided he wanted to do the main final, albeit he would be starting last as he hadn’t done the qualifying heats - and to everyone’s surprise he came through the field to finish 15th, which was his highest finish of the European championships in 2019.
Kirkham gets Rally GB invitation
Following on from his two appearance at the recent Carfest Shows (North and South), Fuchs – backed Neil Kirkham has been invited by the organisers at Rally GB to display and demonstrate his Ford Escort Gartrac Mk 3 on the Colwyn Bay evening special stage before the competitors arrive. “It’s really special for me to be invited to such a prestigious event, and I’m looking forward to demonstrating my car on my last outing of the year”, said Neil.
Disappointment for CA1 on Ceredigion rally
The CA1 Sport rally team were represented by Steve Simpson / Patrick Walsh (Ford Fiesta R5) on one of the three closed-road rallies taking place in Wales last weekend, the Ceredigion rally. Unfortunately, the crew reported turbo problems on the opening stage, which turned out to be something the service crew could not fettle on the road section, so the decision was made to retire the car to avoid damage to the engine.
