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Hydrex Bike Animal Honda rider James
Ellison overcame a disappointing qualifying position to battle his
way from row four of the grid to a fifth place finish in the opening
race of the sixth round of the Bennetts British Superbike
Championship at Mallory Park today.
After developing the brand new traction control
system on his Honda CBR1000 Fireblade, Ellison resorted to his
original machine prior to the first 30-lap race where steady
progress through the field saw him catch up with the leading bunch
but he couldn't quite close in and had to settle for fifth position
at the flag.
Race two proved a nightmare for all of the teams
with a sudden rain shower before the start making tyre choice a
lottery and Ellison chose an intermediate front and a slick rear on
the drying track. After taking it steady in the opening laps
Ellison improved to 11th place at the chequered flag and was just
pleased to bring the machine home to add to his points
tally.
For team mate Guy Martin it proved to be another
character building weekend, after only being able to manage 26th
fastest in qualifying, meaning a sixth row start. However
Shaun Muir's team made some radical changes to the machine prior to
today's two races and Martin ended up with a pair of reasonable
finishes in 16th and 17th.
However, consolation came the way for Martin
when his efforts were acknowledged with him being the best improver
on the day meaning he won the Airwaves Kick Up A Gear award.
In addition, Ellision now leads this award following on today's
results.
Both riders now look forward to the next round
of the championship in three weeks time at Oulton Park where last
time Ellison scored a podium finish for the team.
James Ellison: "The
first race was really good but I would have rather had a good race
two. In the second race I should have been higher up as I made
the right decision on the tyres but I was too far down the grid so
I'm just really frustrated. It took me a while to get some
heat into the tyre and then I kept coming up behind other riders and
kept getting held up. I think testing the traction control put
us in a bad position but it was my decision, so it's my fault.
I'm disappointed for the guys in the team as well, but I'm hoping to
go well at Oulton Park and hopefully go one better and get a
win."
Guy Martin: "The
second race was just a wobble round for everyone and I made the best
of a bad job and got the Airwaves Kick Up A Gear award. But at
least I got two finishes and no breakdowns this weekend so it puts
us in good stead for the Southern 100 race next
week."
Shaun Muir (Team Owner):
"I was absolutely delighted with race one, James rode really
hard from that grid position and he proved that with a bit more
testing he could be up there. I was disappointed with race two
as I felt that James didn't get up to pace quickly enough as it took
him half race distance to get into his stride."
Superbike Race One
Result
1, Shane Byrne (Ducati) 28m33.049s, 2, Leon
Haslam (Honda) +1.024s, 3, Cal Crutchlow (Honda) +1.147s, 4, Tom
Sykes (Suzuki) +1.355s, 5, James Ellison (Hydrex Bike Animal
Honda) +11.302s, 6, Billy McConnell (Kawasaki) +17.149s, 7,
Simon Andrews (Yamaha) +18.252s, 8, Tristan Palmer (Honda) +19.761s,
9, Atsushi Watanabe (Suzuki) +26.422s, 10, John Laverty (Ducati)
+27.593s.16, Guy Martin (Hydrex Bike Animal Honda) +1
lap.
Superbike Race Two
Result
1, Michael Rutter (Ducati) 30m10.219s, 2,
Shane Byrne (Ducati) +4.405s, 3, Cal Crutchlow (Honda) +4.586s, 4,
Tom Sykes (Suzuki) +13.383s, 5, Karl Harris (Yamaha) +13.589s, 6,
Leon Haslam (Honda) +19.517s, 7, Simon Andrews (Yamaha) +25.928s, 8,
Leon Camier (Ducati) +35.007s, 9, Tristan Palmer (Honda) +44.194s,
10, Scott Smart (Kawasaki) 56.422s, 11, James Ellison
(Hydrex Bike Animal Honda) +56.712s. 17, Guy Martin
(Hydrex Bike Animal Honda) +1 lap.
2008 Bennetts British
Superbike Championship Standings after Round 6
1,
Shane Byrne (Ducati) 280pts
2, Cal Crutchlow (Honda) 183pts
3,
Leon Camier (Ducati) 160pts
4, Leon Haslam (Honda) 148pts
5,
Michael Rutter (Ducati) 127pts
6, Tom Sykes (Suzuki)
126pts
7, James Ellison (Hydrex Bike Animal Honda)
119pts
8, Michael Laverty (Suzuki) 84pts
9, Simon
Andrews (Yamaha) 69pts
10, Stuart Easton (Kawasaki)
62pts
17, Guy Martin (Hydrex Bike Animal Honda)
19pts
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