Quigley's On The Pace
Luke Quigley recorded his second successive British Superstock Championship
podium after a superb ride at Snetterton. The 31 year-old put the power of his
new Formwise/Astro Racing BMW to good use to claim second place around the fast
Norfolk circuit.
Having switched machinery, from Suzuki to the new BMW S1000RRR, Quigley needed
to make good use of the practice time in order to get the bike set-up to suit
his riding style. Prior to the first free practice session, Quigley had only
completed a few laps aboard the BMW. During the thirty minute session, Quigley
completed 22 laps, the fastest of which was good enough to place him fourth.
In the opening qualifying session, Quigley improved on his best lap time but
could only place 7th on the provisional grid.
After track surface damage had led to long delays earlier in the day, Superstock
second Qualifying was cancelled, meaning the times would be used from the first
session only. Although he would have expected to improve on his first session
performance, the big disappointment for Quigley was loss of additional track
time.
Quigley made another brilliant start to the race and had climbed from 7th on the
grid to 2nd place before the race was red-flagged after three laps. The race
then had to be restarted with grid positions dictated by track position at the
end of lap two, meaning Quigley would be third on the grid for the restart.
Yet again Quigley got away well off the start, slotting into 2nd place into turn
1 behind the Ducati of Scott Smart, which was later disqualified for being
underweight. A determined Quigley then took the lead as he out-braked Smart on
the way into Russell's chicane at the end of lap one.
Once ahead, Quigley looked comfortable but he was unable to build any gap
because of the slip stream effect down the long straights. Even with the
slipstream, neither Smart's Ducati or Glen Richards' Honda was able to pass the
power of the BMW. However, on lap five, Tristan Palmer on the Jentin BMW flew
past Richards and then rode around the outside of Quigley around Coram curve.
Pole-sitter Palmer was able to string together a series of stunning laps and
pull away from the chasing duo of Quigley and Richards. Having lost out to
Richards at Knockhill, Quigley was determined not to lose out again. Although
Richards had a couple of goes at a pass, Quigley was able to keep him at arm's
length. Quigley took the chequered flag in second place to cap a great weekend
for the Formwise/Astro Racing squad.
After the race, Quigley said: "That wasn't bad for the first time out on the new
Formwise/Astro BMW. I am really pleased with that, that makes two podiums in a
row now. I felt good out there but honestly there was no way I could stay with
Tristan [Palmer], he was in a different league."
"The team have all worked really hard to get the new bike sorted, so I would
like to thank them all and all of the sponsors for getting us to where we are.
We have still got a lot of learning to do with the bike, so hopefully we can
continue to improve."
Quigley has now moved up to fourth place in the championship standings as the series
moves to Brands Hatch in two weeks time.
Sam Farrington
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