Virtually a case of last man standing in Oulton Park British Supersport race
Gearlink Kawasaki’s Ben Wilson took his first victory of the season in the dramatic, incident-packed third round of the Fuchs-Silkolene British Supersport Championship at Oulton Park.
Wilson said: “It is great to have won our first race of the season and I have to say when the safety car came out I did feel disappointed as I lost my slight lead. It didn’t matter though as we still won in the end and it comes after two disappointing rounds at Brands Hatch and Thruxton. I now want to maintain this momentum for my home round at Cadwell Park.”
The conditions posed questions on tyre choice for the riders, and on the warm-up lap GNS Honda’s Paul Jordan slid off and then in the wet practice session prior to the race, Allan Jon Venter also crashed out.
Glen Richards crashed his Padgetts Honda on the warm up lap, but picked himself up to take the start from the back of the grid. Ian Hutchinson took the early lead, ahead of Billy McConnell, Graeme Gowland and Wilson.
Gowland looked set to be in contention but slid off at Lodge, then McConnell crashed his CAME Yamaha at Shell and Hutchinson set the fastest lap only to tip off at Hizzy’s leaving Wilson leading the pack on the third lap ahead of an injured Sam Lowes and Jack Kennedy.
Wilson held the upper-hand in the difficult conditions though Lowes on the GNS Honda, made him work hard to maintain his advantage, closing to within 0.361s at the end of the 12 lapper.
Lowes’ second place finish moves him jointly into the championship lead with James Westmoreland who was forced to retire with a technical problem with the CAME Yamaha in the closing stages.
Kennedy brought his Colin Appleyard/Macadam Yamaha in a solid third ahead of MAP Centurion Triumph’s Daniel Cooper who took fourth in the final laps from Richards with Tom Grant sixth.
Patrick McDougall finished seventh overall aboard the East Coast Yamaha and was the winner of the Supersport Cup, with local hero Jenny Tinmouth second in class ahead of Mark Cringle.
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— CAME Yamaha
The CAME Yamaha team endured a challenging third round of the Fuchs-Silkolene British Supersport Championship at Oulton Park after a promising start to the event.
Billy McConnell had powered to pole position for the CAME Yamaha team, qualifying inside the lap record with championship leading team-mate James Westmorland starting from third. However the team’s fortunes changed on raceday as a downpour just before the race left the riders facing tricky conditions. McConnell was running second and trying to close down the advantage to race leader Ian Hutchinson but he high-sided at Shell Oils corner which ended his hopes of a victory.
Westmoreland was then left to fly the flag on the second CAME Yamaha and despite making progress he was forced to take evasive action off the track as a rider crashed in front of him which dropped him down the order. A few laps later he was forced to retire after suffering a hole in the radiator, however he still holds the championship lead ahead of the fourth round of the championship in just under three weeks’ time at Cadwell Park.
Westmoreland said: “I was obviously disappointed not to have finished the race as in dry conditions we definitely could have fought for the win as we had been heading in the right direction throughout practice and qualifying. I think in that situation it would have been a real fight between me, my team-mate Billy and Graeme Gowland but it didn’t work out that way. It rained just before the race and I had never ridden the CAME Yamaha in wet conditions so it was always going to be a bit of a gamble on settings but that was the same for everyone. I knew I just needed to get some solid points and I think I could have been somewhere like fourth, but I got in the pack early on and then someone high-sided in front of me and I had to avoid them and take to the grass. This cost me time and momentum, but I was starting to try and work my way back until we started losing power so I had to retire and we discovered the problem came from a hole in the radiator. It is just unlucky, but of course it could have always been worse. I know we made good progress with the CAME Yamaha and the new K-Tech suspension and I didn’t lose the title lead so now we just look forward to coming out fighting at the next round.”
McConnell said: “It wasn’t obviously the best result for me but I know that we can take some real positives forward from the weekend at Oulton Park that will benefit us in the long-run over the rest of the season. We had found a great base setting, which was clear from the pace we set in qualifying and the new K-Tech suspension has made such a difference that we have already seen the benefits of even at this early stage. It was unfortunate it rained just before the start of our race as we had a great set-up for the dry conditions and we would have been up there I am sure of it fighting for the win. I was running second behind Hutchy and he was really setting a great pace and I wanted to try and stay with him, but I just pushed too hard and ended up high-siding at Shell Oils corner and that was it. Last year I didn’t push hard enough in the race there so this time I was determined not to make the same mistake again, but I just caught myself out. I know I have said this at the past few rounds but now I really need to start winning as I need to get my championship back on track, so we will see what happens when it comes to Cadwell Park.”
CAME Yamaha Team Manger Steve Rodgers concluded: “It started as a good weekend for the CAME Yamaha team and both riders showed they had the pace and the potential to finish on the podium, but it didn’t work out that way unfortunately. We had such a great qualifying session and when it came to the races Billy just pushed too hard and that was his race over. For James he had an off track moment which we think caused the stone to make a hole in the radiator, which is just unfortunate but we made some real positive progress over the three days and this will put us in a strong position for the next round at Cadwell Park. I know the whole team can bounce back with luck back on our side, so we are all feeling motivated to make amends next time out. We have to say big thanks to CAME again for their support and we will be out for the win for sure at Cadwell Park.”
— Jason O’Halloran Report
Unfortunately Jason O’Halloran is unable to compete in the third round of the Fuchs-Silkolene British Supersport Championship at Oulton Park this weekend after breaking his collarbone in a high speed crash at Cascades in second qualifying.
The young Australian had been working hard throughout the weekend at one of his favourite circuits but struggled to find a good set up on the Triumph 675 throughout the practice and qualifying sessions. Sitting in a potential tenth place on the grid the Aussie was using the final minutes to try and improve his time and position on the grid, sadly to no avail. A huge fast crash saw O’Halloran finish his day and weekend in the medical centre.
After a close inspection by the track doctors he was diagnosed with a splintered left collarbone, Jason is going to see a specialist on Tuesday and then the next steps will be taken to see if he requires surgery or not, in the hope to be back out on the Oxford Tag Triumph at Cadwell Park on the 22nd May.
Commenting he said “I’m really disappointed about hurting myself this weekend. It had been a tough weekend and we were struggling to find a set up that worked well for me here at Oulton. We had just made a bit of progress in the second qualifying session when I had a massive crash. Once I stopped rolling I thought I was ok but then the adrenalin wore off and knew I’d hurt my shoulder some how. I’m just gutted as I really wanted a good result here. I’ve not many weeks before Cadwell so I have to try and get myself fully fit again by then, just sorry for all the team and hope things take a turn for the better soon!”