BEN WILSON – CADWELL PARK
Cheered on by a
huge Bank Holiday Monday crowd Boston Superbike racer Ben Wilson claimed his
best result of the season with 11th place in the first race and going
on to produce a season best eighth in the second leg of the 2006 Bennetts
British Superbike championship.
Qualifying
didn’t quite go to plan for Ben who was hoping to secure a third row start to
Monday’s two 18-lap races and although he steadily improved his lap times he
was only able to finish 14th for a place on the fourth row.
“We have been
playing catch-up a bit as we didn’t attend the test day last week. Those
riders who did are already up to speed and have a bit of an advantage over us.
But we have been steadily improving and shaving half a second from the laps
times each time we go out there. I really wanted a third row start but was just
not quite quick enough. But I am sure I will be on the pace when the red light
goes out.”
The weather played its part in the results and with intermittent heavy showers
tyre choice was a lottery. The
opening race was declared wet and Ben went out with a cut rear and wet front. He
made steady progress throughout the 18 laps to cross the finish line in 11th
place.
“I got away to
a fairly good start but my front tyre went off really badly towards the end of
the race,” said Ben. “I played it a bit safe really, I think I could have
gone a lot quicker but there were a lot of people coming off and I didn’t want
to join them. I need to get some more points in the bag so we will see what
happens in the next one.”
Race two was again affected by the weather but the track was drying fast and a
dry race declared. Ben opted for slicks all round and set off to a really good
start, moving through to 10th on the opening lap. By mid-race he was
ninth and went one better to cross the finish line in eighth place for his best
result of the year.
“I am pretty pleased with that,” said Ben. “I got a decent start and tried
to go with Steve Plater on the Rizla Suzuki. I was catching him mid-race but
then I started to slide a lot so I thought I had better concentrate on bringing
it home safe instead of trying to catch him and maybe coming off.”
This strong set of results sees Ben remain in 14th place overall but
much nearer to 13th place held by his teammate Scott Smart who was
again missing from the line up because of a broken wrist.
The next round is at Silverstone
on September 17 where Ben will be hoping for another good set of results to
boost his points tally.
Report by Helen Pask
Picture courtesy of Dean Owen
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