Tough weekend at Mallory for SMT Honda Round 6 of the British Superbike Championship at Mallory Park proved to be a tough meeting for the SMT Honda team and they failed to add to their points tally for the season. A last minute decision saw the experienced Sean Emmett drafted in to the team but he was unable to make an impression on the top 15 around the tight and twisty Leicestershire venue. With chosen rider Adam Jenkinson still-injured and Marshall Neill unable to continue with the team due to other commitments, Londoner Emmett was brought in but when bad weather came on Friday afternoon, a session was lost and, with it, a considerable amount of set-up time. Nevertheless, when dry qualifying took place on Saturday afternoon, the former GP rider and BSB winner posted a more than creditable time of 57.612secs to place 20th on the grid, just 1,6seconds off pole positions. The opening race saw good, dry conditions and Emmett made a strong start to move in to 17th place at the end of the opening lap. In the opening stages, he was was involved in a strong battle with James Haydon and Guy Martin but as the race wore on, he encountered problems with the rear wheel and it eventually forced him in to the pits on the 13th lap, just over one third race distance. Later inspection revealed the tyre had spun on the rim, severely compromising both traction and handling. Sadly, that proved to be Emmett’s only race of the day for the team as a spill in the Henderson Yamaha R1 Cup race, his regular championship, saw him injure his thumb and he was unable to take his place on the grid for the second race. Speaking about the weekend, team principal Robin Croft said: “Without doubt, it’s been a hard weekend here at Mallory for everyone in the team. It’s a technically demanding circuit so we felt the better option was to run a more experienced rider like Sean but it was all last minute and we never managed to get a test session prior to the meeting. The bad weather on Friday really affected us and we ultimately ran out of set-up time with Sean and the bike.” “Sean felt a problem with the rear wheel quite early in the first race so he had little option to pull out and it’s just one of those things that happens from time to time. His crash on the R1 saw him hurt his thumb so we decided it was best for everyone to withdraw from the second race. It’s been a tough weekend but we’ve got our home round at Oulton Park next and we’re all looking forward to that very much. Adam won’t be fit, unfortunately, so we’ll hopefully recruit a suitable rider between now and then to ensure we have a strong presence on the grid.” With three weeks between now and the Oulton Park round, Robin is keen to talk to all riders interested in riding for the SMT Honda team and he can be contacted at [email protected]. More, from a press release issued by John McGuinness’ publicist: Mallory misery for McGuinness John McGuinness endured another tough day at the office on Sunday when he competed in Round 6 of the British Supersport Championship at Mallory Park. The Morecambe ace just missed out on the points when he finished 16th at the end of the 24 laps, with the race being help in wet, but drying conditions. Riding the Padgett’s Honda, the weekend started extremely well for John and the team when he placed an excellent 6th in the first qualifying session. However, final qualifying proved to be incredibly fraught and an oil spillage two thirds of the way through the 40 minutes made life even more difficult. Although John went quicker in the final moments, a number of riders had gone quicker when the track conditions were at their best and he was shuffled back to 14th, meaning a fourth row start. All hopes of a dry race disappeared on the warm up lap when rain began to fall and the 24-lap race was delayed to allow the riders to switch to more suitable tyres. When it finally got underway, the rain had stopped and John showed his intentions with a great start, which immediately moved him up to 12th. By lap 6 he was up to 11th and it finally looked like he would get his first points of the season. However, the track was beginning to dry quickly and John began to struggle for grip from half race distance onwards. By lap 16 he had been bumped back to 14th and then, in the final two laps, he got relegated to 16th meaning all his hard work at the beginning of the race had been in vain and he missed out on the points by just one place. Speaking afterwards, a disappointed John said: “What can I say, it’s been another disappointing day. Mallory’s an extremely difficult place so I knew qualifying would again be vital and when I was 6th in the first session, it looked like I was heading in the right direction at last. In final qualifying though, I never got a clear run as there was traffic on each and every lap and some people made a smart move by getting a quick lap in early in the session. With the oil being right on the racing line at Gerard’s, it compromised us a lot and although I knocked a tenth off my time, I dropped from the second row to the fourth.” “I made a great start in the race and had caught the row in front of me by the time we got to the first corner but the track was really slippy and those first few laps were tough. I was hanging in there in 12th though and felt strong but just after half race distance, I began to lose a bit of grip and those riders who had opted for cut slicks were getting so much drive out of the corners that I was pretty powerless to do much about it. It’s proving to be an incredibly tough Championship this year but I feel like I’m riding well and the bike is working well so my luck’s got to change soon.” The next round of the British Supersport Championship takes place at Oulton Park on Sunday July 19th, but, prior to that, John will be again participating in the Goodwood Festival of Speed, where he will be reunited with 2006 and 2007 TT winning Superbike. More, from a press release issued by KTM: Hot Superstock Race for team KTM Maehr in Misano. The fifth from ten races in the FIM Superstock 1000 World Cup ended better than the twenty fifth place than the 14-lap reflected for the young Austrian René Maehr and his two cylinder KTM 1190 RC 8. Maehr had already found a good basic chassis setup for his KTM in the first training session on the 4.18 km long, very curvy racing circuit on the Adriatic, even in temperatures of 35 degrees Celsius. And in the hot Italian summer temperatures the 21-year-old student was able to reduce his training time in the decisive last session on Saturday by a second. With the real aim of gathering important experience with the newly launched RC8 in very tough racing conditions, Maehr went into the heat of the Superstock battle at twenty eighth of 40 riders. Early race incident After some of the crash incidents in the opening stages that are so typical for this very hard fought class, the KTM rider was able to overtake some of his four cylinder opponents and finished the race in 25th position. In doing so he was able to put in important test kilometres and gain more valuable experience with the first ever Austrian Superstock racing motorcycle. What Rene Maehr said after the race Rene Maehr: “It’s not easy to coldly evaluate such a tough race. The 25th place at the end of the day did not really say much about the advancements we were able to make as a team over the weekend. Thanks to a clearly improved basic setup we were able to massively reduce our time in training by 1.5 seconds. I had some bad luck when a crashed bike slid directly in front of me at the beginning of the race. I had to brake hard a swerve to miss it and this immediately created a gap between me and the next group. In this class, that’s not possible to narrow over only a few laps. To get right to the point: I am pleased that we could work so well in this extremely hot weather and not have any problems; also that we could significantly improve our speed, especially in the corners. I am not that happy with finishing at place 25 but we will be working to improve on this!” The next race in the FIM Superstock 1000 World Cup will take place on July 20 in Brno, Czech Republic. More, from a press release issued by Steve Plater’s publicist: STEVE PLATER CLAIMS SECOND AT MALLORY PARK Woodhall spa ace Steve Plater claimed a second place finish to his race in the Fuchs/Silkolene British Supersport championship after rain disrupted the start at Mallory Park on Sunday. Plater was on top form throughout the weekend and his qualifying position of sixth did not reflect the effort put in by himself and the AIM Yamaha support team. “I am not happy with sixth as I wanted a front row really. We have been on the pace all weekend and just needed a bit more time to get a clear lap in. I think perhaps I have been attacking a bit too hard sooner than settling down,” said Plater. “The trouble is, at Mallory it is hard to get a clear lap in and when you do finally get a clear run you try that bit too hard and cause yourself problems. “But my race pace is very good so I just need to get off the line well and it should go ok. Glen Richards is very, very fast and he will take some beating without a doubt.” Just as the riders formed the grid a heavy shower of rain caused problems to the start procedure. They sat it out on the grid hoping the rain would quickly clear away. After a lengthy delay and with rain still falling, it was declared a wet race and the teams were given a short time to make a final tyre choice with most opting for full wets and because of the delay the race was cut to 24 laps. Plater got away to the good start he had hope for and slotted into second place behind series leader Glen Richards. But wet weather specialist Hudson Kennaugh came past the pair to establish an unbeatable lead, leaving Plater and Richards to fight it out for second place. Plater caught and passed Richards on lap nine and despite a challenge from Ian Lowry mid-race, rode through untroubled to take second place and his second podium finish in as many races. “I am happy enough with second today,” said Plater. “Glen got away at the front and I made it through to second straight away. I sat behind him for a while and then Kennaugh came past both of us on the exit to Edwina’s chicane going very fast. I was not prepared to go that quick and risk a crash in the slippery conditions so I sat behind Glen before making my move into second and kept my position under control. “I thought someone was going to have a go at me in the closing stages but when I looked over my shoulder at Gerrard’s on the last lap I couldn’t believe there was no one there. I think perhaps I was a bit more aggressive going through the back markers and therefore pulled a gap.” This result puts Plater up to seventh in the rider standings on 45 points after just two races and at the midway stage of the championship. But he will miss two of the remaining six rounds as he has commitments in the World Endurance championship. The date clash means he will miss the Knockhill and Croft races but will contest the remaining four rounds, the next being at Oulton Park on July 20. More, from a press release issued by AIM Yamaha: SECOND AND FOURTH FOR AIM YAMAHA AT MALLORY Both Steve Plater and Ian Hutchinson completed the sixth round race in the Fuchs/Silkolene British Supersport championship in strong positions for AIM Yamaha at Mallory Park on Sunday, Steve taking his second successive podium finish with second place and Hutchy not far behind in fourth. Qualifying saw Hutchy hold provisional pole for a long time before being knocked back to second when series leader Glen Richards put in a late challenge to snatch pole from under his nose. Steve Plater ended up in sixth position for a second row start after being unable to put a clear lap together around the short and tricky 1.41-mile Leicestershire circuit. Just as the riders formed the grid, a heavy shower of rain caused problems to the start procedure. They sat it out on the grid hoping the rain would quickly clear away. But after a lengthy delay and with rain still falling, a wet race was declared and the teams were given a short time to make a final tyre choice with most opting for full wets and because of the delay the race was cut to 24 laps. Plater got away to the good start he had hope for and slotted into second place behind series leader Glen Richards. But wet weather specialist Hudson Kennaugh came past the pair to establish an unbeatable lead, leaving Plater and Richards to fight it out for second place. Plater caught and passed Richards on lap nine and despite a challenge from Ian Lowry mid-race, rode through untroubled to take second place and his second podium finish in as many races. Hutchy meanwhile was not quite so quick off the line and settled into fourth position where he remained throughout the 24 laps. Although in close formation with Plater and Lowry he couldn’t quite find the pace to make an overtaking move on the pair and crossed the finish line for his best result of the season in fourth place. This fine set of results for the team put Plater up into seventh place and Hutchy to ninth at the half way stage of the championship. But Steve will miss two of the remaining six rounds as he has commitments in the World Endurance championship. The date clash means he will miss the Knockhill and Croft races but will contest the remaining four rounds, the next being at Oulton Park on July 20. STEVE PLATER I am happy enough with second today. Glen got away at the front and I made it through to second straight away. I sat behind him for a while and then Kennaugh came past both of us on the exit to Edwina’s chicane going very fast. I was not prepared to go that quick and risk a crash in the slippery conditions so I sat behind Glen before making my move into second and kept my position under control. IAN HUTCHINSON The result didn’t go the right way for me, but I guess fourth is ok. At least we got some points. I wasn’t too bothered about the wet weather but I had a race plan and wasn’t able to stick to it. I used full wets, as in those conditions you didn’t really have any options. More, from a press release issued by Russel Holland’s publicist: Promising start for Russell Holland in World Supersport Championship It’s a convincing start for Russell Holland in the World Supersport Championship. The Aussie rider, first time on a 600cc bike since last year (Australian Supersport Championship), took an incredible 7th place on Saturday afternoon qualifying session. The new HANNspree Honda Althea rider continued his progression on Sunday morning warm-up, by being 5th overall. Unfortunately his race ended at lap five when he crashed at “Misano” corner, last turn of the recently revised Santamonica track. After this strong debut, both rider and team look very optimistic for the future, and look forward to the next race in Brno, July 20th. “It took me some time to switch from superbike riding to Supersport style” said Russell Holland,”but on Saturday morning I felt better straight away. We worked hard during the whole weekend to try to improve the set-up and we actually made a lot of progress in the afternoon and I was really hoping to get to the front row. In the end I was seventh and it’s a really good result for the team. We made some progress this morning in the warm-up and felt ready for the race”. “I got a reasonable start in the race, I pretty much held my position into the first corner but I got stucked on the inside as few people passed me on the outside. I got back to tenth position and I had three riders in front of me that were much slower than the leading group, so I tried to get passed as quick as I could. After I passed them I was not as patient as I should have been and pushed too hard on the final corner, exactly where I crashed in qualifying”. “I knew I had a problem there so I should have taken a little bit easier. After I crashed I saw that the race was not so fast and we could have made a strong result today. Anyway it’s a very good start, I can’t put into words how satisfied I am to be part of this team. It’s good to be in the front again, now I’m looking forward to race in Brno!” Russell Holland thanks HANNspree Honda Althea Team and Honda Europe for this big opportunity, with the firm intention to pay them back with a good result. Russell Holland at Misano Adriatico HANNspree Honda Althea – Honda CBR 600RR #11 Free Practice 1: 21th (1’42″283), 20 laps Qualifying 1: 20th (1’41″605), 19 laps Free Practice 2: 16th (1’41″188), 12 laps Qualifying 2: 7th (1’40″257), 18 laps Warm-Up: 5th (1’40″312), 12 laps Race: DNF (crashed at 2nd lap) More, from a press release issued by Keith Amor’s publicist: More success in Ireland for Amor Keith Amor enjoyed another successful trip across the Irish Sea at the weekend when he made his debut at the Athea road races in Southern Ireland. Taking in the 3.3-mile circuit for the first time, the Falkirk ace took a dominant victory in the Supersport 600cc race and added a pair of second places in the two Superbike races to make it a a thoroughly enjoyable day’s racing. Saturday practice wasn’t as smooth though and he could only manage 7th on the grid in the Open class as he failed to get a clear lap on the Phoenix Motorcycles Honda. Meanwhile, he also ran into problems with the 600cc Wilson Craig Honda as it kept jumping out of gear but he did manage to post the second fastest time for a front row start. With conditions good on race day, Keith’s day got off to the perfect start when he took a comfortable win in the 600cc race, the aforementioned problems having been rectified overnight, whilst he also set a new class lap record. In the Open race, it looked like the result would go right down to the wire as Keith battled it out for the lead with Ryan Farquhar. However, as they lapped the backmarkers, Keith was forced to take the outside line and he had no option but to take the slip road. He quickly turned the bike around and was still able to take 2nd at the chequered flag. In the Grand Final, a slightly sluggish start saw Keith down in 8th at the end of the first lap and by the time he had worked his way through to 2nd, Farquhar had disappeared. However, it was another runner up spot to make it three podiums from three starts. Commenting afterwards, Keith said: “I’ve really enjoyed myself this weekend and it’s been another solid haul of results. It’s not the most technically demanding circuit I’ve ridden on but it’s very narrow in places and it’s very difficult to overtake so my grid position in the Open class meant it was very hard to make up ground.” “Nevertheless, both of the bikes were flying on race day and I never had one moment at all so that speaks volumes of both the Honda machines and the Dunlop tyres. It’s been good craic and I was very impressed by the club – they put a lot of work and effort in and ran a very well organised and professional meeting. As always a big thank you to all my sponsors, especially Wilson Craig, Phoenix Motorcycles and Dunlop tyres, for making it all happen.” Keith will remain in Southern Ireland for his next meeting, with the Skerries 100 road races taking place on Saturday July 5th.