Silverstone: Rounds – 7 – 8 & 9

Bennetts British Superbikes

Tom Ward and the Bike Devil team continued to improve throughout the weekend at rounds seven, eight and nine of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Silverstone. He gained an 18th, 17th and 21st places in the three Superbike races.

Tom is still to continue to learn riding and racing a British Superbike and always improves each time out on track. He qualified for the opening race on Saturday in 19th place with a time of 54.3. He got a good start in the race and made up a couple of spots, he battled hard and bettered his lap time to finish in 18th place at the end of the 25-laps.

He started race two from 17th place and this was a longer race, tyres have been an issue all weekend and Tom fought on for the 30 laps and finished in 17th position. He started the third race of the weekend from 17th place and faced another 30-lap race. He started well and was setting some consistent times; he had a big moment half way through the race and dropped down the pack to finish in 21st place.

Tom:

“Results wise it didn’t look like a great weekend but if it wasn’t for the tyre issues I think we would have been much higher up in the positions. I’m so happy with the bike and the big improvements we made. I’m sure if I’d had the grip I could have got in the points especially in the last race.

We had the pace and PJ has been invaluable all weekend with the data and I feel like we’ve made huge steps forward. The results don’t reflect the effort the team put in and I literally can’t wait to get to Oulton and carry on riding the bike and learning more. Thanks to everyone who helped at Silverstone.”

Quattro Group British Supersport

In the British Supersport class Rob Hartog was flying solo on the MV Agusta and once again was learning a new track and continuing to push forwards in each session. He finished in 12th place in the Sprint race on Saturday and was ninth in the main race on Sunday.

Rob managed to qualify in 24th place on the grid (16th Supersport rider). He started well and was able to build up to a good rhyme, digging deep and working hard he managed to finish the 18-lap race 12th in the Supersport class.

He started from 25th place for the second race of the weekend and knew that he had a lot of work to do but he was eager to get a good result. He bedded himself in for the opening half of the race and then found another gear and started moving his way through the pack. He worked really hard to secure a strong ninth place.

Rob:

“To be honest it was a weekend full of technical difficulties and I was hoping for some better results. In between races we changed a lot of stuff on the bike, so I had a completely different bike for race two.

I can say that the result in race two was a reward for all the hard work the team put in over the weekend. I am hoping though for some better results at Oulton Park and to be further forward there.”

Dave Tyson – Team Owner:

“It was a tough weekend and very frustrating that our weekend was all about saving a tyre instead of being able to push every lap.

Tom did a great job but each race he suffered with around ten laps to go but he showed really good pace. At Oulton we expect to be higher up the time sheets. Rob once again took good points in the Supersport class and each race he improved.

The team worked really long hours this weekend and the results didn’t reflect the work that was put in by everyone. We move on to Oulton where we hope for better results.”