BEN WILSON – OULTON PARK
Boston’s Ben
Wilson suffered the highs and lows of racing at Oulton Park when he crashed out
of race one but then went on to score his best result of the season in the
second leg in round eight of the 2006 Bennetts British Superbike championship on
Sunday.
Qualifying saw
Ben make steady progress and he was confident of a second or third row start to
Sundays two races. But after pitting for his final qualifying tyre his lap was
spoiled when he encountered a couple of riders on their slow down lap.
“Although my
lap time was quite quick it would have been a lot quicker if I had not come
across those two riders who were tootling along on their way back to the
pits,” explained Ben. “So now I have to start both races from row four which
is not the way I had planned things.”
Ben got away well in the opening race and quickly moved up into 13th
place. But it all went wrong for the 24-year-old when the bike swung round on
him and dumped him unceremoniously on the tarmac.
“I went into
Lodge and the back tyre just let go. The bike did a 360 degree spin tipping me
off,” said Ben.
Ben didn’t get
too good a start in the second leg but he soon made up ground to become
embroiled in a six-way battle for eighth place.
The action was
fast and furious and saw Ben mixing it with the likes of Steve Plater and Glen
Richards.
Everything
rested on the drag to the flag and as they flew over Deer Leap Ben powered his
Suzuki through to just pip Gary Mason for ninth place. Another yard and he would
have caught Glen Richards who finished just a wheel’s length ahead.
“What can I
say,” said Ben. “That was my best finish of the year. I made a slight
mistake at Lodge last time around and slid a little wide or I would have been
looking at eighth. All season I have been running at the same pace as Richards
and Mason but started from a lot further down the grid so was unable to get up
there with them. If I can match their starting positions I should be looking at
even better results next time out.”
There is a
three-week break until round nine at Croft Circuit near Darlington where last
year Ben scored a strong 12th place and he will be looking to improve
on that this time.
Report by Helen Pask
Picture courtesy of Turn One
Photography
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