BEN RETURNS
TO RACE ACTION
Irish
eyes were smiling on Boston racer Ben Wilson when he scored his
best result of the season at Mondello Park in Ireland with a
runner up spot in round six of the 2007 Metzeler Racetec National
Superstock championship. Ben went on to finish fifth in his second
race to bring his points haul on the day to 31.
Qualifying
was a close run affair with less than two seconds separating the
top nine riders and Ben was eighth after first qualifying. He was
hoping to better that in the final session but after a further
spell of rain the track remained wet and he was unable to make
further progress, dropping a place to ninth when Sean Emmett
managed to put in one fast lap to overtake him.
Ben
began both races from a third row grid position but as race one
got underway he shot off the line to his usual quick start moving
straight up into fourth position.
He
briefly lost out to Adrian Coates but was quick to overhaul the
Irish rider on lap five to move up into third place maintaining
his position and staying in touch with the leading pair as they
all three pulled away from the pursuing pack.
As
they began the penultimate lap Ben was latched onto the back of
Adam Jenkinson and picked his moment to make a passing manoeuvre.
Ben made it stick and powered the Windmill Suzuki past to complete
the race in second place for his first podium finish since he took
second place in the same series at Oulton Park in September 2004.
Race
two was last of the day and filled with drama as first we had the
safety car deployed on the first lap before it then became
necessary for the red flag to halt proceedings to allow for the
recovery of a fallen rider.
The
race was re-started but now down to a nine-lap dash to the flag.
Ben didn’t get away to the best of starts but held onto fifth
position in the early stages before forging ahead of Kirkham on
lap five.
He
remained in fourth place tucked in behind the leading trio until
series leader Glen Richards joined in the fun and went past on lap
eight. Richards was gifted second place at the finish as Brogan
and Seeley both ran wide at the last corner but Ben was not quite
near enough to capitalise on their mistake and ended the race in
fifth place.
With
this set of strong results Ben is promoted up the leader board
from eighth to fourth in his championship challenge on 77 points.
But Hudson Kennaugh who is just four points above him is no longer
competing in the series and another strong finish at Knockhill
next time could see Ben move up into the top three.
Next
Round Knockhill July 1st
Report by Helen Pask
Pic credit - Tim Scarbro
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