DAYTONA, FL – Saturday’s Sprint Race marked the return of the BSB to Brands Hatch where James ‘The Rocket’ Rispoli secured an additional twenty-six Motorpoint British Supersport Championship points.
Keith Flint’s Team Traction Control stole the show as Rispoli and teammate Andy Reid battled for the podium. Although the third place finish was just out of reach for Rispoli, his two consecutive fourth place finishes in the sprint and feature races launched ‘The Rocket’ into the top five of the Championship, leading the way for Team Traction Control.
Rispoli maintained his strong qualifying position in row two, with a best lap time of 1:28.639.
With six rounds and twelve races down and six rounds and twelve races remaining, only time will tell if the young American will continue to push higher into the championship rankings. See James ‘The Rocket’ Rispoli blast off into the Thruxton circuit August First, where round seven of the British Superbike Series will commence.
For more information on James ‘The Rocket’ Rispoli, visit him at www.JamesTheRocket.com
More, from a press release issued by Team Traction Control:
PODIUMS FOR REID AT BIG BRANDS BASH ON RETURN FOR INJURY
Team Traction Control returned to the podium at the sixth round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch as Andy Reid held off team-mate James Rispoli as the pair battled for the final top three position in both of the Motorpoint British Supersport Championship races.
In the Sprint race Reid had moved up the order and despite the pressure from team-mate Rispoli he held on to claim third, with the pair separated by 0.212s at the finish line with the Team Traction Control pairing staging a rematch in the Feature race.
The pair tussled for the final podium position throughout the closing stages of the Feature race, proving how closely matched the team-mates are on track, but over the closing laps it was Reid who held the advantage to claim third place ahead of Rispoli.
In the Pirelli National Superstock 600 Championship Joe Francis qualified seventh on the grid for his race of the weekend and the Chester based contender battled hard, but was forced to settle for seventh place, but added to his points tally to remain fourth in the overall standings.
Reid said: “I felt much better on the bike this weekend, I am still not completely there after my injury but I felt I was in a position to push for results and qualifying wasn’t ideal in tenth, but we sure made up for it in the Sprint race to be back on the podium. The Feature race I had a pretty good start and stay in the group, I wanted to try and get them but I just didn’t quite have the pace, but I need to thank everyone who helped me get back out and now I need to focus on getting fitter and ready for Thruxton.”
Rispoli said: “The weekend was great although I guess a little bit bittersweet, but I rode my heart out all weekend, so I feel that two fourth places were good for the championship and showed that we took another step closer to the leading guys. In the Sprint race it was a bit of a shame to finish behind Andy as there were a few spots I was going to try and make a move, but he had a little bit more at the end of the race. I came up through some guys in the second race to close in on Andy and we had a good tussle. Two fourth places shows we are making improvement and we need to keep that going now.”
Francis said: “It was a tough weekend, but at the same time we scored valuable points and maintained our position in the championship, which is the important thing. I am now looking forward to Thruxton and trying to get back towards where we need to be which is fighting for the podium.”