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BEN WILSON -BRANDS
HATCH
The
final round of the 2007 Metzeler Racetec National Superstock championship at
Brands Hatch saw a disappointing end to Ben Wilson’s season. He rode to a fine
fifth place in the penultimate round on Saturday but was forced to retire with
an engine failure in the final race on Sunday.
Qualifying
was a close run affair with less than a second covering the top 28 riders.
Wilson, from Boston in Lincolnshire rode through to 14th place to
secure a fourth row grid position for the start of the two races to be run on
the short and technical 1.1986-mile Indy circuit with race one taking place on
Saturday afternoon.
As
the lights went out Wilson was quick to get away and soon moved up into ninth
position on the second of a scheduled 22 laps before forging further forward to
seventh place on lap nine. But just as he moved up into sixth position the race
was red flagged to allow an oil spillage to be cleared at Clearways.
The
race was re-run over 10 laps with the grid determined on race positions at the
stoppage. Again Wilson made a lightening start and moved straight up into fourth
place tagged onto the back of the leading trio. He became embroiled in a
monumental battle for position with Steve Brogan and the pair rubbed shoulders
as they argued over fourth place.
Eventually
Brogan overcame Wilson and in the dash to the flag held station to snatch fourth
place away from him leaving Wilson to cross the finish line just a fraction of a
second behind in fifth place.
“I
am pretty pleased with fifth although a little disappointed when the race was
stopped as I had just made it up to sixth and was well on the way to moving
further up field. I made the re-start from seventh and was just about to have a
go at passing Kirkham when Brogan joined in the battle. That let Kirkham get
away leaving me and Baywatch (Brogan) to have a bit of an elbowing session with
me ending up on the grass at one stage!”
Race
two was a bitter disappointment to Wilson who made a fantastic start to take up
fifth place in the leading group of riders. There were eight riders all together
at the front with Ben in the thick of the action.
But
just as he was poised to make a pass on Kirkham he was seen to slow and drop
back before pulling into the pits with an engine failure to the Windmill Suzuki
K7.
“I
am really disappointed that the motor gave up on me,” said Wilson. “I was
putting in some really fast lap times and was one of the quickest riders out
there. But the engine developed a misfire and I had no option but to pull into
the puts to retire.
“I
would like to say a big thank you to Windmill Cars, Crescent Suzuki and Maxima
Racing Oils for their support throughout the year and despite the non-finish
today at least we were running at the front and but for the engine failure would
have been looking at a podium finish.”
When
the final points were added to the table Wilson finished in seventh place, not
quite where he wanted to be but a respectable end to the season in this highly
competitive class and will now look at his options and begin to make his plans
for the 2008 season.
Report
by Helen Pask
Pic
credit - Dean Owen
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