Steady Weekend
Brierly Hill racer Luke Quigley claimed respectable 11th and 7th place finishes
in the latest two rounds of the British Superstock Championship. Quigley faced
stiff competition as the British championship event was showcased in front of
70,000 fans as part of the British round of the MotoGP at Silverstone.
Free Practice gave the 48-strong field a
chance to acquaint themselves with the tack. Quigley had only seen the newly
completed, 3.7 mile Silverstone GP track a week earlier, on a test day. The
usual Superstock riders were also joined by four of the British Superbike
Championship competitors, include title challenger Josh Brookes. Quigley ended
the session seventh fastest.
Later on Friday was the two half hour Qualifying sessions. The weather had taken
a turn for the worse, leaving the track sodden. The rain made for an interesting
mix of riders at the top of the time sheets. The second session saw conditions
improve slightly but the lap times were still considerably slower than the
morning. Quigley ended up 15th quickest over the combined times meaning a fourth
row start for both races.
Starting from the middle of the pack, Quigley was unable to make much headway in
the opening exchanges. Once the field had settled down Quigley was able to make
up some ground and eventually fought his way up into a reputable eleventh place
finish.
After making some changes to his Formwise/Astro Suzuki overnight, Quigley made a
better start to race two. With good drive off the line, Quigley hade it up into
10th place by the end of the first lap. Firmly entrenched
in a mid-field battle, Quigley could only
watch as the front group of six began to break away. By lap seven Quigley had
fought his way to the front of his group and lay in 7th place but he had a three
second gap in front of him. Although he could see those ahead, the gap was too
large much to recover and Quigley took the chequered flag in seventh position.
After the race Quigley commented: "The new track is great, it's really fast and
there seems to be load of grip. I was a bit disappointed with how I qualified
and starting in 15th was always going to make the races difficult."
"In the first race I struggled to make anything up off the start and that was
pretty the end of it in terms of getting up the front. I did manage to make some
places up during the race but I had given myself too much to do."
"With no warm up on Sunday morning, we had to chance our arm on a different
set-up. We went with a different rear shock and tried to improve the stability.
It seemed to work out pretty well and I was able to go much quicker in than in
the first race. I could see the leading group but by the time I had made it to
the front of the pack I was in it was too late. I was gaining on those in front
of me by the end but I couldn't get up to the back of them."
Quigley is now lying 6th in the championship and his next race will be at Knockhill
in two weeks time.
Sam Farrington
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