FIGHTING FIFTH FOR ASHLEY
19 April 2007 - Colin Appleyard/Macadam race team

Following his comfortable win in the first round of the British GP125 Championship, Colin Appleyard/Macadam Racing rider Ashley Beech took a fine fifth place at the Thruxton round of the Championship this weekend to maintain his position at the top of the Championship.

It was a difficult weekend for the team who were kept busy by a host of technical and set-up problems with both Ashley’s bike and that of team-mate Stewart Finlay. With both riders suffering from reduced track time, Ashley did well to qualify fifth with Stewart a creditable 19th after just a handful of laps throughout practice and qualifying.

In the race itself, held in blazing sunshine, Ashley reproduced his trademark fast start and was in the leading group early on. However, a carburetion set-up problem affected the performance of his bike and that saw him lose touch with the pack. From then on it was a case of consolidating his position. Commenting on his ride, the Oldham rider said; “That was a really hard race – harder than last week’s win at Brands Hatch. I had the pace in the corners but with the carburation set-up not being quite right, it meant I was losing out to the other riders. Still, I came away with yet more points and I’m still at the top of the Championship although I now share that with two other riders. This season is going to be really close so I need to get back to winning again as soon as possible. If we can get the engine set-up sorted at Silverstone in a fortnight, then I know I’ll be able to challenge for another win.”

Team mate Stewart Finlay from Dundee had a thoroughly frustrating weekend culminating in 16th place in the race. He said; ”After the first round last week where I qualified on the front row, I was hoping to be right on the pace again but it wasn’t to be. Due to the limited track time in practice and qualifying, it was always going to be an uphill challenge to get in the points from a midfield grid position which proved to be the case. The positive though was that I finished the race and got plenty of racing miles which is exactly what I needed.”

Appleyard/Macadam Team Manager Robin Appleyard summarised the weekend saying; “Although we had a tough time, both bikes finished - Ashley rode really well to get fifth to keep his Championship lead and Stewart was mixing it well in the race and unlucky not to get into the points, missing out by just 0.4 seconds. We’re now looking forward to Silverstone and have our sights set on the podium.“

www.colinappleyard.co.uk/motorcycles/racing/gp125.htm

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