Pirelli National Superstock 1000 Championship with Black Horse

Brands Hatch Indy Circuit

Leeds, England

April 16, 2017

Race One Results (all on Pirelli tires):

1. Richard Cooper, UK, (Suz GSX-R1000), 27 laps, Total Race Time, 21:20.903, Best Lap Time 46.491 seconds

2. Danny Buchan, UK, (Kaw ZX-10R), -0.112 second, 46.400

3. Ian Hutchinson, UK, (BMW S1000RR), -4.386 seconds, 46.561

4. Luke Hedger (Apr RSV4), -5.068, 46.501

5. Fraser Rogers (Kaw ZX-10R), -5.135, 46.617

6. Chrissy Rouse, UK, (BMW S1000RR), -5.966, 46.562

7. Adam Jenkinson (BMW S1000RR), -6.064, 46.533

8. James Rispoli, USA, (Kaw ZX-10R), -10.826, 46.716

9. Ashley Beech (BMW S1000RR), -11.286, 46.802

10. Alex Olsen (Suz GSX-R1000), -11.365, 46.862

Championship Point Standings (After 4 races):

1. Cooper, 73 points

2. Buchan, 70

3. Hutchinson, 37.5

4. Rouse, 34

5. Rogers, 30.5

6. Rutter, 30

7. Rispoli, 24

8. Hedger, 23

9. Jenkinson, 20

10. Mason Law, 18

More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki Press Office:

Cooper wins and takes Superstock 1000 series lead for Bennetts Suzuki at Brands Hatch

Richard Cooper took his and Bennetts Suzuki’s second win of the season in today’s National Superstock 1000 championship race, and with it assumed the series lead after the 50-mile race of the Brands Hatch Indy circuit was red-flagged due to rain.

Cooper qualified on the front row for the 38-lap race, and hit the front on lap five, using the exceptional drive of the all-new GSX-R1000 out of Clearways to make a pass for the lead into Paddock Hill.

From there, he controlled the race, leading every lap until the red flags came out in the closing stages due to rain, taking another 25 championship points to sit at the top of the series standings before tomorrow’s second race.

Richard Cooper, “Spot on today, just the job we wanted. The pace has been there all weekend. We’ve been top three in every session so we knew we’d be there in the race. It went to plan really; I wanted to hit the front and break away from everyone else. I knew one or two might come with me, but I was happier to have just myself and Danny [Buchan] at the front rather than a big group. I was leading at the right time, and if we’d gone full distance I know he’d have had a go, but also I was ready for it. I’m happy with the win and happy for the team. The bike’s working well, we’ve improved on the areas we needed to while keeping our strength on corner exit. But as a racer I’m never happy, so we’ve got some more things to try in warm up tomorrow, and hopefully we can get another win.”

In today’s British Superbike qualifying sessions Taylor Mackenzie set the 12th fastest time in a highly competitive field, the reigning British Superstock 1000 champion just three tenths off the pole position time. The team has been working methodically to further develop the bike over the course of the weekend, making plenty of progress from one session to the next and steadily improving in lap times.

His teammate, Sylvain Guintoli, will start from 16th place in the grid for tomorrow’s opening race. The Frenchman had tried many different setup options over the weekend, and was inside the top-10 in all free practice sessions, with a best of fifth in FP1. However, a problem under braking in qualifying prevented him from setting a better time.

Taylor Mackenzie, “Today was a lot better for me. We’ve been developing the bike all weekend and made our first real breakthrough today. We found something this morning, and qualifying was even better. I actually found six tenths of a second in qualifying from practice, which was good. We’ve changed quite a lot with the bike, altering things like geometry. But our biggest improvements then came with the harder front tyre which allowed me to push a lot more. I was surprised with our time in qualifying. I think I only needed to find another tenth to get into Q3, which shows you how close it is out there. And I’ve never been in Q2 before, so it’s all pretty good so far. We’re constantly improving, and the aim tomorrow is to get away well and pick our way forward, and if we get a couple of strong points-scoring finishes I’ll be happy.”

Sylvain Guintoli, “We’ve experienced a lot of different setups so far this weekend, on all fronts; chassis, electronics, and some have been positive, some not so much. We’ve been competitive, but I had an issue in qualifying where I was struggling in the braking zones, and couldn’t get the bike stopped as I’d have liked, and that really costs you at a circuit like this. It is a shame, but we can see on the data what we need to improve, so we have some ideas to try in warm up tomorrow. It’s not going to be easy for us in the races. Starting from 16th is a big handicap, but I see it as a challenge, and I will try and do the best race I can. Everyone is bunched up around here, so hopefully we can settle into a good pace and then keep progressing in the race and get stuck in.”

Steve Hicken – team manager, “It’s good to get another win under our belts in Superstock, and I’m really happy with the weekend so far. We’ve done a good job and Cooper’s been on the money in all of the sessions. The pace in Superstock is really fast, so to be so competitive so quickly with a new bike is really good. The GSX-R’s working well, hooking up strongly, and with a few more tweaks tomorrow, hopefully we’ll have another win and can leave here with the championship lead.

“In Superbike we’re making good progress. With Taylor, we’ve been working on just rebuilding his confidence after Donington. Unfortunately he had another crash on Friday, but since then we’ve just taken it step by step and we’re seeing the rewards now. 12th doesn’t look that special, but if someone had said before the weekend we’d do the time we did in qualifying, with a new bike, we’d definitely have taken it. Our focus on the bike’s development, on Taylor’s side of the garage, has been on working on the chassis side of things a lot more, and we’re now getting a good package together.

“We need to improve with Sylvain. We know how good he is and we have made progress. For him, we’ve been working a lot more on the electronics and throttle connection side of things, and while we’ve been improving that, we’ve not yet got a chassis setting he’s comfortable with, so we need to bring the whole thing together now. But Rome wasn’t built in a day, so we’ll keep working and try and put all of the pieces together and have some better results in the races.”

Superstock 1000 race one result: 1. Richard Cooper, 2. Danny Buchan, 3. Ian Hutchinson.

Superbike qualifying result: 1. James Ellison, 2. Luke Mossey, 3. Leon Haslam, 12. Taylor Mackenzie, 16. Sylvain Guintoli.