MIXED FORTUNES FOR STOBART HONDA AT BRANDS HATCH
28 March 2005 - Stobart Honda

The opening round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship heralded mixed fortunes for the Stobart Honda team with rider Jeremy McWilliams having a best result of seventh place in the opening race at Brands Hatch.

With backing from The Mob, VK Vodka Kick and Vent Axia, the Paul Bird Motorsport team were hoping for a decent points haul in round one of the thirteen round series, but fortune contrived against them in front of a record 50,000 Easter bank holiday crowd.

In the opening race McWilliams battled to seventh place with fellow Ulsterman Michael Laverty claiming fifteenth to secure valuable points for the team but a broken clutch saw Gary Mason retire early in the race.

In race two McWilliams was dicing along with Mason in a group just behind the leading bunch when disaster struck late in the race and he crashed out at Clearways after tangling with a back marker. However Mason and Laverty scored more points for the team in tenth and fifteenth place respectively.

“I’m not sure I agree with the Blue Flag where riders are told to hold their line as it makes it very difficult to pass when there is only one line. I was trying to take every possible advantage and I went underneath (Richard) Wren and got my front wheel in front of him but he held his line and we came together and both ended up crashing out. I’m pretty disappointed because the best we could have hoped for was seventh or eighth position but we would have taken the points anyhow but we’ve still got a bit of a way to go yet” said a battered and bruised McWilliams.

Mason however was upbeat despite his disappointment in race one. “We have learnt a lot from the race and we know where we need to make a few improvements to help us all and we will move that on to Thruxton now. We’re not a million miles away but here it does make a huge difference. It was my fault I fried the clutch in the opening race but everyone’s working flat out and we will just do our best.”

In his second year with the team, Laverty commented: “I’m happy enough to come away with some points after the way things have been this weekend. I improved gradually in the races and didn’t set the world on fire but I was steady and didn’t take any chances. Hopefully we can improve from here but I’m happy enough with this weekend” said the rider who suffered a heavy crash during practice.

Team owner Paul Bird said: “It’s not the start we had hoped for, as we were hoping for a couple of sixth places but we were just unlucky with the backmarker in the second race and we just have to put that down to inexperience on his part. Things will get better and we’ll get stronger round by round I’m sure.”

The next round of the Championship takes place at Thruxton in two weeks time on April 9/10.

Superbike Race One Result

1, Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) 23m17.575s, 2, Gregorio Lavilla (Ducati) +10.242s, 3, Glen Richards (Kawasaki) +10.432s, 4, Michael Rutter (Honda) +10.533s, 5, Sean Emmett (Yamaha) +14.168s, 6, Karl Harris (Honda) +18.874s, 7, Jeremy McWilliams (Stobart Honda) +24.408s, 8, Dean Thomas (Kawasaki) +24.604s, 9, John Reynolds (Suzuki) +26.892s, 10, Tommy Hill (Yamaha) 32.289s... 15, Michael Laverty (Stobart Honda) +40.244s.

Superbike Race Two Result

1, Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) 23m16.796s, 2, Michael Rutter (Honda) +5.041s, 3, Gregorio Lavilla (Ducati) +8.027s, 4, Leon Haslam (Ducati) +9.786s, 5, Sean Emmett (Yamaha) +14.181s, 6, Karl Harris (Honda) +14.421s, 7, Glen Richards (Kawasaki) +16.612s, 8, Scott Smart (Suzuki) +24.002s, 9, John Reynolds (Suzuki) +24.439s, 10, Gary Mason (Stobart Honda) +24.506s …. 15, Michael Laverty (Stobart Honda) +35.888s.

Superbike Championship Standings (after Round 2)

1, Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) 50pts

2, Gregorio Lavilla (Ducati) 36pts

3, Michael Rutter (Honda) 33pts

4, Glen Richards (Kawasaki) 25pts

5, Sean Emmett (Yamaha) 22pts

6, Karl Harris (Honda) 20pts

7, John Reynolds (Suzuki) 14pts

8, Dean Thomas (Kawasaki) 13pts

8, Leon Haslam (Ducati) 13pts

10, Tommy Hill (Yamaha) 10pts

11, Jeremy McWilliams (Stobart Honda) 9pts

14, Gary Mason (Stobart Honda) 6pts

17, Michael Laverty (Stobart Honda) 2pts

2005 BSB Race Dates

R1: 26–28 March, Brands Hatch, Kent (Indy) www.motorsportvision.co.uk

R2: 8–10 April, Thruxton, Hants www.barc.net

R3: 22–24 April, Mallory Park, Leics www.mallorypark.co.uk

R4: 30 April–2 May, Oulton Park, Cheshire www.motorsportvision.co.uk

R5: 13–15 May, Mondello Park, Co Kildare www.mondellopark.ie

R6: 3–5 June, Croft, N Yorks www.croftcircuit.co.uk

R7: 24–26 June, Knockhill, Fife www.knockhill.co.uk

R8: 8–10 July, Snetterton, Norfolk www.motorsportvision.co.uk

R9: 19-21 August, Silverstone, Northants www.silverstone-circuit.co.uk

R10: 27-29 August, Cadwell Park, Lincs www.motorsportvision.co.uk

R11: 9–11 September, Oulton Park, Cheshire www.motorsportvision.co.uk

R12: 23–25 September, Donington Park, Leics www.donington-park.co.uk

R13: 7–9 October, Brands Hatch, Kent (GP) www.motorsportvision.co.uk

Picture courtesy of Dave Mulholland, from Brands Hatch

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