POINTS FINISH FOR JONES
31 August 2004 - Triumph ValMoto

Craig Jones rode his Triumph ValMoto Daytona 600 to a strong points finish at Cadwell Park yesterday in another extremely competitive British Supersport race.

It was the turning point the team had been looking for after a short run of bad luck in the 2004 season.

It was an eventful round as the competition at the top of the series became even closer than before with championship leader Karl Harris being forced to retire due to a jumped chain. Second-placed Michael Laverty dropped to third in the series after losing the race lead due to a mistake on the final lap and Jay Vincent secured the win to move up to second position overall and close in on Harris.

Having qualified down the field in 16th, Jones left himself with a lot of work to do at the newly configured 2.2-mile track. However, he powered away from the fourth row of the grid with the leading pack.

A spectacular early Leon Camier crash in the 16-lap race and unpredictable weather forced Jones to ride a sensible race, rather than risk joining the eight DNFs of round 11. He is now looking to Oulton Park to regain a top three finish and maintain his position within the series top ten.

Team Manager Jack Valentine said: “I’m satisfied with the result that we achieved this weekend. We can now build on this and aim to be on the podium before the end of the season. Oulton Park and Donington Park are two of Craig’s favourites, so we’re expecting good performances from him at those two tracks. The Daytona 600 was as fast as anything out there this weekend and the Pirelli tyres are working well. Now that the whole package has come together, we will continue to improve. All of the team are totally dedicated and focussed on achieving top three results.”

Result: 1. J. Vincent (Honda) 25:40.032; 2. T. Sykes (Suzuki) +0.417; 3. S. Easton (Ducati) +0.526; 4. M. Laverty (Ducati) +1.145; 5. M. Llewellyn (Ducati) +6.255; 6. L. Quigley (Suzuki) +6.644; 7. P. Riba (Kawasaki) +15.572; 8. C. Jones (Triumph ValMoto) +15.815; 9.S. Andrews (Yamaha) +16.503; 10. P. Young (Honda) +20.002;

Points after round 11: 1. Harris – 197; 2. Vincent – 167; 3. Laverty – 158; 4. Riba – 110; 5. Quigley - 91; 6. Sykes – 87; 7. Camier – 85; 8. Andrews – 83; 9=. Jones, Crutchlow – 57

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