BEN
WILSON – DONINGTON PARK
In
atrocious conditions at a wet and windy Donington Park, Boston rider Ben Wilson
kept his head and rode through to two strong points finishes in the second round
of the 2006 Bennetts British Superbike Championship.
After
suffering from mechanical problems all through free practise on Friday and
Saturday Ben went into the solitary qualifying session determined to make up
ground and secure a top ten start to Sunday’s set of two 18-lap races at the
Leicestershire circuit.
He
was lying 17th after the final free practise session but electrical
problems in qualifying on Saturday afternoon saw Ben drop further down the order
to 20th for a fifth row start and leaving him a lot of work to do to
get on terms with the front runners.
“I
am really disappointed with the way the weekend has gone so far. We had
mechanical problems in all three free practise sessions causing me to take to
the second bike for the 50-minute qualifying period. But just before I was due
to pit for my final tyre change the engine died on me and that was that.”
Starting
from the fifth row of the grid in 20th place was certainly not the
place that Ben wanted to be but he made a good start to race one and was hoping
to make up ground on the leaders.
But
that all went out of the window when several of the front runners crashed at
Redgate first time around causing Ben to take avoiding action to miss the debris
on the track.
Ben
tussled for a while with Jonny Rea for position but the red flag halted the race
at 13 laps when the rain turned to hail leaving Ben to claim 12th
place and a further four championship points.
Race
two was again held in the pouring rain with Ben riding through to an 11th
place finish adding five more championship points to his tally to remain at 15th
place in the overall standings.
Report
by Helen Pask
Pictures
courtesy of Turn One Photography
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