Press release: Progression was made this weekend for Centurion Racing at round 10 of the Fuchs Silkolene British Supersport Championship at Croft this weekend. The two riders Dan Cooper and BJ Toal gained a solid sixth and 13th place respectively in the 18-lap race around the fast 2.1-mile circuit.
It was an improvement on the previous two race weekends at Brands Hatch and Cadwell Park and Centurion Racing are eager to end the 2009 season on a high note at the final two rounds of the season at Silverstone and Oulton Park. The weather at Croft was fantastic for practice and qualifying but turned much cooler for race day on Sunday, which played into the hands of the teams and riders as the track conditions had much more grip in the cooler temperature.
Dan Cooper was keen to get a strong result at Croft after a couple of confidence knocking rides and after first qualifying he was lying in ninth place and was one of very few riders to improve on his time in second qualifying he ended up on the second row in seventh. A good start in the race saw Cooper in fifth place after the opening lap and locked in a tight battle with Dan Linfoot for fourth position. The safety car was dispatched on lap seven to allow the marshal's to clean the track after a fallen rider, this bunched the riders up close together and allowed Championship leader Plater an opportunity to move through the pack. Moving Cooper back to sixth place, Cooper was latched onto the back of the leading bunch but was unable to make a pass and had to settle for sixth.
Cooper:"Thankfully I managed to finish this weekend as I had a couple of bad ones recently and just glad to be back in the points but wish I was a little higher up the pack. I wanted to make a pass a couple of times but the opportunity never came up, the bike was working well all weekend and hopefully we'll be able to be higher up the results sheet at the final two rounds. The Centurion team once again worked mega all weekend and glad that I got some good points."
Competing in his third race for the Centurion Team, BJ Toal was finding his feet over the weekend at Croft and was improving his time in each session. An engine problem in the first session on Friday morning saw BJ miss out on some valued track time. Struggling during qualifying Toal only managed to qualify in 19th place on the grid, which left him with a lot of work to do in the 18-lap race. A good start saw Toal move up through the pack and the deployment of the safety car benefitted him and allowed him to bunch up closer to the pack in front on him. He plugged away and worked hard to get through the tough pack to gain a solid 13th position.
Toal:"Each weekend we've been moving a step forward and each time we're moving further up in the overall results sheets which I'm pleased about. We had a couple of teething problems over the weekend but each time and every session we progressed and moved forward but I want to be further up the table but I need to get a good qualifying position. I'm still very grateful for the Centurion team for taking me on and hope that I'll be able to get a couple of top ten finishes at the last two rounds."
www.centurionracing.net2009 Fuchs-Silkolene British Supersport Dates
25-27 September - Silverstone
9-11 October - Oulton Park
