Memorable Day
Luke Quigley made a good start 2010 British Superstock Championship campaign by
scoring a fifth place finish at the opening round on Monday. Quigley's weekend
was made all the happier when he proposed to his girlfriend, Stephanie Wood, on
the grid just prior to start of the race, and she accepted.
As the riders all made their way out from pit lane and the teams congregated on
the grid all seemed normal, but that was all soon to change. When Quigley
coasted up to his grid slot he dismounted, collected the ring from his mechanic
and, in front of thousands of fans got down on one knee in front of his
girlfriend. With the microphone broadcasting his words all around the circuit,
Quigley proposed, and with a few tears, the answer was 'YES'.
With 57 riders entered for the British Superstock Championship this season, the
field were split into two groups for practice and qualifying to reduce the
amount of traffic around the short Indy configuration of the Kent circuit.
Free practice saw Quigley set the fourth fastest time in Group A, in slightly
damp conditions. A best lap of 48.657 showed that the Formwise-Astro Suzuki was
going to be a competitive outfit.
First Qualifying was run in the wet on Saturday morning. Quigley never really
settled in the tough conditions and as a result could only end up posting the
11th fastest time in Group A.
An improvement was required for the second Qualifying session, but the session
began in very similar conditions to the previous day. As the session continued,
the track began to dry and the lap times began to drop. Quigley slowly crept up
the time sheets, improving with each lap. Saving his best until last, Quigley
went fifth fastest with his final lap of the session, to place himself 10th on
the grid for Monday's race.
After the excitement on the grid, Quigley made a flying start and moved up to
fourth place into Paddock Hill bend. As Glen Richards and Steve Plater began to
pull away at the front, Quigley was involved in a four way tussle for third
place. On lap 6, Richards fell whilst leading which promoted everyone else up
one place. The laps continued to pass and the battle for second became a
seven-way scrap, with Quigley holding his fourth place. When Sam Warren crashed
out on lap 15, Quigley made his move and climbed up to second. He was unable to
hold second place for very long, as two laps later he was swamped on the exit on
Clearways and dropped to fifth. A lack of grip as he accelerated out of the
final corner was costing him dear, and every lap he lost ground down the main
straight. Quigley was unable to make any further progress and took the flag in
fifth place.
After the race Quigley commented: "I was so nervous before the race and that was
just about proposing to Steph."
"I got a great start and that is so important in this class because it's easy to
get caught up in a battle and lose a load of time. I was having a bit of trouble
getting the power down out of some of the corners and that probably cost me
second place, but it's only the first race and we have shown that we have got
the pace to run at the front. Hopefully it's going to be an exciting season."
Quigley is back in action at Thruxton in two weeks time.
Sam Farrington
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