Sylvain Guintoli made good on his pole position in qualifying today at Brands Hatch, placing first and second in the two races to place his Worx Crescent Suzuki at the head the British Superbike Championship.
But the BSB debutant didn’t have the racing go all his own way in this the first round of the Championship: In race one Guintoli’s wheelie off the start put him back in seventh place into turn one. He then pushed hard through the early stages of the race to make back the places and took over the lead on lap 16. Honda’s Glen Richards shadowed Guintoli for the rest of the race and while, at three-quarter distance, Richards was able to close to barely 0.3-seconds, for the last quarter of the race Guintoli was able to maintain his blistering pace while his challenger faded.
While Guintoli made a better start in the second race, a little bumping in the first corner saw him placed fifth after one lap. The racing was rather more frenetic second time around and in a crucial early development Guintoli was first passed by rival Leon Camier and then found himself caught behind Karl Harris. In the three laps Guintoli took to fight past Harris, he lost over a second and a half to Camier. Finally past Harris, he mounted a race-long fight to regain positions. Typically pulling back two-tenths-of-a-second each lap on his rivals, Guintoli took second from Steve Plater on lap 27. The remaining three laps were not enough to close the gap to Camier in the lead.
Guintoli’s 1-2 result to Camier’s 4-1 affords him a seven-point advantage at the head of the championship as the BSB paddock heads north to the second round of the BSB championship at Oulton Park on May 2-4.
Sylvain Guintoli:
Race 1: “It was my mistake at the start, the front came up and I had to shut it down to control it. But after that, it was okay, I knew the tyres would be good for the first half of the race so I got on with making the passes – it is quite a difficult circuit to pass on, so you have to be calculating. After that I was able to control the lead. When Glen did close on me I picked up the pace a little bit and we were fine.”
Race 2: “I made a better start, but I just didn’t feel that I had the same grip as in the first race. Maybe I was overdoing it a bit; I had to work hard to make the passes. When Leon passed me I could see he was in a good rhythm and I wasn’t finding my rhythm as quickly – and I knew I didn’t want him to get away. The Honda riders weren’t so easy to pass; they ran so deep into the corners and so I overshot a couple of times trying to make the passes – good for the TV but not so good for us.
“But I am very happy. This weekend we took pole position and we took a win and a second and so have the championship lead. I came here expecting to be fighting at the front but what’s happened has been really good.”
Jack Valentine – Team manager:
“We’re very pleased with how the bike is performing. Obviously it starts moving around a bit toward the end of the race – particularly as Sylvain has had to use his tyres up in the early laps to make the passes – but we’ve been very happy with the set-up, which was identical for both races.
“I was impressed with how Sylvain controlled the first race; when Glen started to catch him he responded in a considered way, there’s no sense of panic with him.
“In the early stages of that second race there was quite a bit of sparring going on with the Honda riders and we could see he was being held up. But you could see Sylvain’s quality shine through when he got a clear track, being smooth and not so aggressive on the bike, he was pulling in the leaders. He just needed more laps!
“In the end it was a proper welcome to BSB for Sylvain; he’s come out on top but he’s also gained an understanding that the BSB riders won’t take any messing about and I’ll think he’ll come back at the next round all the stronger for it.”
Chris Walker / Yamaha R1 / 8th & 14th positions
“That was a pretty tough weekend, from the 3rd row I knew I had to push from the green light, I tried to make a move into 5th position and the rear came around. I took to the grass and came back in last position so to scrape some points was a bonus. In the second race I battled hard for 8th position but we really need to work on our set up. I had some grip issues from the rear of the bike, we have a long season ahead and I am looking forward to the challenge”
Graeme Gowland / Yamaha R1 / 9th & 15th position
” Well that is the first one out of the way! I got mugged with both starts but rode hard in the first race to get through to 9th position. My times were strong so for the second race I really thought I could run at the front. I will have to get used to the battle at the first corners as this messed me up again, saying that I had some real grip issues in the second race so was pleased to get some points. For my first race weekend I am happy and we will get stronger from now on”
Michael Rutter / Yamaha R1 / 16th & 17th position
“I’m a bit shell shocked to be honest, for both the races I had a decent start and ran in the top ten for the early laps, when the newness of the tyre faded I struggled to cope.”
— Supersport
MAP Raceways Yamaha rider Billy McConnell got his Fuchs-Silkolene British Supersport Championship off to the perfect start this weekend at Brands Hatch by taking pole position and the race win, giving him the fledgling championship lead.
He got off to a good start and led the race for the first four laps until a hard- riding Dan Linfoot came by. McConnell held second place right until the final lap when he made his definitive move on Linfoot as they tipped into Paddock Hill bend. He then put in an inch-perfect lap to take the chequered flag and the race win.
McConnell said:” That was unbelievable and a big relief to us and the team. Steve has put a lot of faith in me and I really wanted to repay him and the team. So pole position and the race win is a good start to the season. I knew where I was strong and it was when Steve Plater showed me his front wheel I knew I needed to make a pass. I got the slipstream and had a good run so on the last lap I just concentrated on my lines. I’m so happy that all our hard work has paid off and it is a credit to our sponsors and the team.”
| Superbike Race One | Superbike Race Two | Superbike Championship |
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| Supersport Race | Supersport Championship | |
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 Billy McConnell celebrates his Supersport win |
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