ANOTHER
CANCELLED RACE FOR BEN WILSON
For
the second race in succession the Metzeler Racetec National
Superstock round at Oulton Park had to be abandoned on Sunday
because of heavy rain, which made the track unrideable.
Boston
rider Ben Wilson had struggled with the handling of the Windmill
Suzuki and although he did improve his times in final qualifying
on Saturday he found himself down in 18th place to
start Sunday’s planned 14-lap encounter from a fifth row grid
position.
“We
discovered some damage to the number one bike so decided to opt
for the second machine in the end. It ran perfectly and we wished
we had made that decision a bit earlier, but then qualifying was a
really close run affair with less than 1.3 seconds covering the
top 18 riders and we ended up further down the grid than we had
hoped for,” said Ben.
But
by the time the Superstock riders lined up for the start of their
race the rain became even worse and it was inevitable that after
the first two laps the event was stopped. Ben had moved up into
eighth position but along with everyone else was relieved to see
the red flag.
After
waiting for the rain to subside, series leader Glen Richards and
last year’s champion Brendon Roberts went around the track in
the course car to check the conditions and to give their opinion
to the race director whether or not the race could be re-started.
But their faces said it all when they returned to the paddock
shaking their heads leaving the officials no option but to abandon
the race for the second successive meeting.
“Although
it was the right decision to abandon the race I actually was going
well and had got up to eighth place in the space of a couple of
laps. The bike was running really well and I am confident that if
we had carried on I could have got up into the top five at
least,” said Ben.
“But
although my bike was not sliding around at all it was slippery out
there and the rain was just getting worse and worse so on the
grounds of safety it was the right decision.”
An
announcement will be made shortly on the venue for the re-run. The
Superstock riders already have a double header at Donington Park
to make up for the cancelled race at Knockhill so that only
leaves, Croft, Cadwell and Brands Hatch to chose from.
The
Superstock championship does not run at Mallory Park on Sunday but
Ben will still see race action as he will be contesting the
British Supersport round at the Leicestershire circuit aboard the
Crescent Performance Suzuki Supersport machine.
Free
practise takes place on Friday followed by qualifying on Saturday
in preparation for the 28-lap race on Sunday with a start time of
1.50pm.
Report
by Helen Pask.
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