BSB Metzeler National Superstock 1000 Championship
Round 12
Brands Hatch GP
7 - 9 October 2011
Despite
the organisers making what many agreed was a premature and surprising
decision to cancel the Metzeler National Superstock 1000 race following a
red flag incident at the end of the opening lap, Blackhorse Kawasaki
more than made their mark in the final meeting of the season at Brands
Hatch.
Once again, as in the previous Brands Hatch
round in August, Free Practice took place over the Indy circuit as
opposed to the GP course to be used for qualifying and race day.
Again
Victor Cox was well to the fore, finishing as quickest of the Kawasaki
runners in eighth, 0.53secs off the fastest time. But equally as
pleasing for the team was the performance of Conor Cummins who finished
the session in 14th, just over half a second behind his team-mate.
On
to first qualifying on the GP circuit and, as has been the case in
recent rounds, Cox was again in the mix finishing 8th quickest 0.73secs
off the pace and fifth fastest through the second sector with Cummins in
19th just under a second away from a place in the top ten. The team's
two Ninja ZX-10Rs were among seven Kawasakis in the top twenty with the
second session to come later in the day.
Occupying a provisional
second row start after first qualifying, Victor was determined to round
off his season with a place on the front row of the grid and this he
did with some style as halfway through the session he posted a lap of
1m:28.97s, an improvement of almost a second on his first session time,
to move into second overall with only the newly crowned champion Richard
Cooper managing to go quicker. Cox also posted the 2nd, 3rd and 4th
best times respectively through each of the three sectors. Not to be
outdone, Cummins also improved on his first qualifying time, going over
half a second quicker to finish 16th.
So the last series of
qualifying sessions for 2011 drew to a close with Cox the highest placed
Kawasaki rider in second and Cummins heading the fifth row in 17th as
both riders took their place on the grid on race day in an extremely
positive frame of mind.
As the lights changed Victor got a great
start and was lying second as they rounded Druids for the first time,
but as they came out of the Clark Curve at the end of the lap it was the
Blackhorse Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R in front as Cox made his early
intentions clear. However the drama was unfolding behind, Richard Cooper
and Marshall Neill had both crashed at Dingle Dell in separate
incidents and the race was immediately placed under safety car
conditions. Then at the end of the Brabham Straight on the same lap,
John Crockford collided with the rider ahead of him Freddy Pett and the
race was immediately red flagged, as the riders prepared for the
customary re-run.
However it was not to be as it was soon announced
that the race had in fact been cancelled, a decision which left a
disappointed Cox rueing the missed prospect of a race win and with it a
top six place in the championship, with the general consensus being
that the race should have been re-run over a shorter distance as was the
case concerning the following 125cc and Supersport races.
On a
positive note, Cox had once again established himself as one of the main
players in the championship and, but for a run of bad luck earlier in
the season, would surely have been a championship contender. For
Cummins, 2011 was always going to be a season to ease himself back into
racing following his 2010 Isle of Man TT crash and the popular Manxman
can be proud of his what he has achieved this year.
Blackhorse
Kawasaki would like to thank everyone who has followed and supported the
team in 2011, and now look forward to a successful 2012 season.
Photo: Conor Cummins in action on the Blackhorse Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R
Courtesy: Simon Charity www.simonsracepics.co.uk