Victor Cox produced another strong ride to finish sixth in the latest round of the Metzeler National Superstock Championship at the new Snetterton 300 circuit. Impressive from day one at the Norfolk venue, Cox was never out of the top six in the final standings in all four sessions and in the race itself.
He was 6th in free practice and 4th in the first qualifying session with a time of 1m:53.37 and then produced a great final lap in the second session to go half a second quicker and propel himself on to the grid in third, his first front row start.
Victor got a decent start and was fifth into the first corner and at the end of the lap he was 7th at the back of a group of riders including Howie Mainwaring, Danny Buchan and Adam Jenkinson.
At this early stage Richard Cooper had opened up a gap at the front and by the fourth lap Cooper and Danny Buchan had broken clear from a five man chasing pack consisting of Luke Quigley, Tristan Palmer, Mainwaring, Jenkinson and Cox. The race pattern was now established and for the next few laps positions swapped and changed among the five riders but Victor was starting to look menacing, with three laps of the race to go he had moved up to 5th and with two laps to go he was right on the rear of the Mainwaring's Kawasaki as they went across the start/finish line.
At 'Agostini' on the penultimate lap Victor moved neatly through on the inside of Mainwaring to move into third but no sooner had he done so when he suddenly found himself on the grass after going in a bit too hot at 'Hamilton' and unfortunately he was back to seventh with the momentum lost and his tyres covered in debris from the outside of the corner.
Victor did well to stay on the Ninja ZX-10R and undeterred, he quickly got past Jenkinson to claim sixth and he held this position to the end, almost catching Tristan Palmer at the flag with fractions of a second separating them. So a race of mixed fortunes for Victor, but he came away from Snetterton on a rich vein of form on what was a brilliantly set-up Ninja ZX-10R by the Blackhorse Kawasaki team. He was quickest through all three sectors with a ideal comparison time of 1:52.31 and had another top points score which moves the Trowbridge man up the Championship standings to 8th.
Meanwhile Conor Cummins found the going tough at Snetterton with the Manxman still struggling with the shoulder injury he picked up two weeks ago. Conor battled hard throughout the three days of action to finish 18th but was disappointed that he couldn't have claimed his first points of the season. With a new circuit to learn, everyone was on a level playing field and with conditions perfect - perhaps even a little too hot - the riders were constantly able to lower their times. Conor was no exception and, after posting a lap of 1m57.256s in the first free practice session, by the end of qualifying, he'd taken over two seconds off his time. With a best lap of 1m54.966s, he lined up in 22nd place and on the sixth row of the grid.
A strong start to the race saw Conor jump up 3 places to 19th by the end of the first lap and here he remained until lap 3 when he was pushed back to 21st. Part of a four-man group battling for 18th place, Conor was posting times close to his qualifying performance and by mid-race distance he was back inside the top 20. Riding hard until the end, Conor overtook Dan Stewart on the penultimate lap and crossed the line at the end of 14 tough laps for another 18th place.
Speaking afterwards, the 25-year old said: "It's fair to say this weekend's been heavy going. When I crashed at Knockhill a couple of weeks ago, I landed heavily on my left shoulder and it's been really sore ever since.
Nothing's broken but I've been unable to lift it above a certain height so my movement's been severely restricted and with the new Snetterton circuit being a lot more physical, it's been a tough few days. We struggled a bit with the handling during qualifying but, again, the boys in the team worked so hard to give me a good bike and I can't complain at all with how it was in the race - it was faultless."
"The problem was that due to the lack of strength in my shoulder I was having to over-compensate with other parts of my body and that made it a long old race! I enjoyed it though and managed to get by a couple of the boys but it was particularly a problem into the left handers and into all the heavy braking areas. I'm desperate to get some points on the board this season but we'll keep at it and continue working hard so I'm sure it will come."
Returning from injury, Brad Anderson finished in the points in 15th place in an incident packed Metzeler National Superstock 600 race. Brad posted a time of 1m:58.30s in Qualifying 1 to place him in 16th position and in the second session he went over one second quicker at 1m:57.16s to elevate himself to the third row of the grid in 12th.
Anderson got a great start in the race and was up to 7th and then dropped back to 12th when the race was brought to a stop. The race was re-started over five laps and this time Brad got a bad start and was outside the top twenty in the first sector, but by the end of the opening lap he had fought his way up to 15th and a lap later he was up another place to 14th before dropping back to 15th as the race was once again stopped and a result was declared.
Brad Anderson: 'I am disappointed to have got a bad start but I was happier with the bike in the re-run. The team made a few small changes in between the two races and it made a difference to the handling of the Ninja ZX-6R.'
Photos:
Conor Cummins on the Blackhorse Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R
Brad Anderson and the Blackhorse Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R
Courtesy:
Clive Challinor Motorsport Photography
He was 6th in free practice and 4th in the first qualifying session with a time of 1m:53.37 and then produced a great final lap in the second session to go half a second quicker and propel himself on to the grid in third, his first front row start.
Victor got a decent start and was fifth into the first corner and at the end of the lap he was 7th at the back of a group of riders including Howie Mainwaring, Danny Buchan and Adam Jenkinson. At this early stage Richard Cooper had opened up a gap at the front and by the fourth lap Cooper and Danny Buchan had broken clear from a five man chasing pack consisting of Luke Quigley, Tristan Palmer, Mainwaring, Jenkinson and Cox. The race pattern was now established and for the next few laps positions swapped and changed among the five riders but Victor was starting to look menacing, with three laps of the race to go he had moved up to 5th and with two laps to go he was right on the rear of the Mainwaring's Kawasaki as they went across the start/finish line.
At 'Agostini' on the penultimate lap Victor moved neatly through on the inside of Mainwaring to move into third but no sooner had he done so when he suddenly found himself on the grass after going in a bit too hot at 'Hamilton' and unfortunately he was back to seventh with the momentum lost and his tyres covered in debris from the outside of the corner.
Victor did well to stay on the Ninja ZX-10R and undeterred, he quickly got past Jenkinson to claim sixth and he held this position to the end, almost catching Tristan Palmer at the flag with fractions of a second separating them. So a race of mixed fortunes for Victor, but he came away from Snetterton on a rich vein of form on what was a brilliantly set-up Ninja ZX-10R by the Blackhorse Kawasaki team. He was quickest through all three sectors with a ideal comparison time of 1:52.31 and had another top points score which moves the Trowbridge man up the Championship standings to 8th.
Meanwhile Conor Cummins found the going tough at Snetterton with the Manxman still struggling with the shoulder injury he picked up two weeks ago. Conor battled hard throughout the three days of action to finish 18th but was disappointed that he couldn't have claimed his first points of the season. With a new circuit to learn, everyone was on a level playing field and with conditions perfect - perhaps even a little too hot - the riders were constantly able to lower their times. Conor was no exception and, after posting a lap of 1m57.256s in the first free practice session, by the end of qualifying, he'd taken over two seconds off his time. With a best lap of 1m54.966s, he lined up in 22nd place and on the sixth row of the grid.
A strong start to the race saw Conor jump up 3 places to 19th by the end of the first lap and here he remained until lap 3 when he was pushed back to 21st. Part of a four-man group battling for 18th place, Conor was posting times close to his qualifying performance and by mid-race distance he was back inside the top 20. Riding hard until the end, Conor overtook Dan Stewart on the penultimate lap and crossed the line at the end of 14 tough laps for another 18th place.
Speaking afterwards, the 25-year old said: "It's fair to say this weekend's been heavy going. When I crashed at Knockhill a couple of weeks ago, I landed heavily on my left shoulder and it's been really sore ever since.
Nothing's broken but I've been unable to lift it above a certain height so my movement's been severely restricted and with the new Snetterton circuit being a lot more physical, it's been a tough few days. We struggled a bit with the handling during qualifying but, again, the boys in the team worked so hard to give me a good bike and I can't complain at all with how it was in the race - it was faultless."
"The problem was that due to the lack of strength in my shoulder I was having to over-compensate with other parts of my body and that made it a long old race! I enjoyed it though and managed to get by a couple of the boys but it was particularly a problem into the left handers and into all the heavy braking areas. I'm desperate to get some points on the board this season but we'll keep at it and continue working hard so I'm sure it will come."
Returning from injury, Brad Anderson finished in the points in 15th place in an incident packed Metzeler National Superstock 600 race. Brad posted a time of 1m:58.30s in Qualifying 1 to place him in 16th position and in the second session he went over one second quicker at 1m:57.16s to elevate himself to the third row of the grid in 12th.
Anderson got a great start in the race and was up to 7th and then dropped back to 12th when the race was brought to a stop. The race was re-started over five laps and this time Brad got a bad start and was outside the top twenty in the first sector, but by the end of the opening lap he had fought his way up to 15th and a lap later he was up another place to 14th before dropping back to 15th as the race was once again stopped and a result was declared.
Brad Anderson: 'I am disappointed to have got a bad start but I was happier with the bike in the re-run. The team made a few small changes in between the two races and it made a difference to the handling of the Ninja ZX-6R.'
Photos:
Conor Cummins on the Blackhorse Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R
Brad Anderson and the Blackhorse Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R
Courtesy:
Clive Challinor Motorsport Photography