The Virgin Media Optoma Loans Yamaha British Superbike team continued to score some valuable points at Silverstone Circuit, Northamptonshire, today 29 April. 22-year old Tommy Hill had been consistently in the top four throughout the free practice sessions. A red flag in final qualifying forced his pole pace lap to be abandoned and he was unable to improve on his position on the third row of the grid. Despite a bad start in Race One, Tommy managed to claw his way back up to 8th place. Race Two saw the same result after he struggled to improve, and a red flag brought the race to an abrupt end just after two-thirds distance.
Team-mate and local rider, James Haydon put his Pirelli-shod Yamaha YZF-R1 into the points for the first time this season in Race One. A coming together with another rider in the first lap left James running off the track and re-joining in dead last. Sheer determination enabled James to salvage his race to come home in the points. Race Two saw less drama with James maximising on his start position to finish just outside the points after the race ended prematurely.
Tommy Hill: "I was gutted about my start in Race One and went back to 19th or so and had to ride like a banzai to get back up into contention. I've been running with the leaders all weekend and would like to have converted my practice results into race results. We will keep on trying to improve on a pair of 8th places and see what we can do at Oulton Park next week."
James Haydon:"I had a coming together on Lap 1 round the back of the hairpin that put me dead last, I couldn't believe it. I managed to get back through to 15th and probably overtook more riders than anyone in that race. Race 2 was cut short when I was just shy of the points. I feel we've improved the bike and I've got something to progress with so I'll hope to maximise that in Round Four."
British SupersportOnce again, the weekend was far from straight forward for the Virgin Media Yamaha Supersport team. Young Australian rider, Billy McConnell was the strong favourite to turn his superb debut Supersport pole position into his first win. However the safety car was called out on Lap 2, after an incident at Woodcote. Billy was judged to have passed under the warning flag and received a ride through penalty. This effectively ended the 20-year old's chances of a second podium finish in a row. Remarkably, Billy managed to keep his race rhythm going, riding his way back to brilliant finish of seventh across the line.
Tom Grant had been feeling the affects of his high-speed crash at Maggots from Saturday morning, but after consultation with doctors and Rob McElnea, he took his position on the grid for the 18-Lap race. Fighting through the pain barrier, Tom bravely brought his Virgin Media Yamaha YZF-R6 safely home in fifth position, recording his first finish of the season. The 18-year old Supersport rookie continues to show his true potential despite being dogged by bad luck since the season start.
Tom Grant:"I got a good start from 8th on the grid and quickly settled in to 6th position. I dropped away from the leaders a bit and found it hard to stick with them. Unfortunately Billy got a ride through which allowed me to come 5th. It's been a good and bad weekend for me but I scored some good points, lets get off to Oulton Park and improve from there."
Billy McConnell:
"It was a bit unfortunate there, I got off to a good start and when the safety car flag came out I just didn't see it. I suffered the penalty of a ride through pit-lane but managed to come out 9th. After that I got my head down and managed to get back to 7th. All in all it was not a bad result with some more valuable points to take to Oulton."
Rob McElnea, Team Principal:"The weekend started really well for us. Tommy was right up there through practice and Billy put his Supersport bike on pole. Tom Grant has again shown some fantastic qualities and did a fantastic job to bring it home 5th after his off. We've had another weekend of missed opportunities which means we still haven't shown the true potential of our team."
BSB - Race 1 Results:1 - Kiyonari (Honda),
2 - Rea (Honda),
3 - Walker (Suzuki),
4 - Camier (Honda),
5 - Lavilla (Ducati),
6 - Haslam (Ducati),
8 - Tommy Hill (Virgin Media Optoma Loans Yamaha),
15 - James Haydon (Virgin Media Optoma Loans Yamaha)
BSB - Race 2 Results:1 - Kiyonari (Honda),
2 - Lavilla (Ducati),
3 - Rea (Honda),
4 - Walker (Suzuki),
6 - Haslam (Ducati),
8 - Tommy Hill (Virgin Media Optoma Loans Yamaha),
16 - James Haydon (Virgin Media Optoma Loans Yamaha)
Championship Standings:1) Lavilla - 131,
2) Kiyonari -- 99,
3) Rea - 85,
4) Camier - 80,
5) Haslam - 64,
6) Sykes - 59,
10) Tommy Hill - 37
BSS - Race Result:1 - Hobbs (Honda),
2 - Lowry (Suzuki),
3 - Laverty (Suzuki),
4 - Hutchinson (Honda),
5 - Tom Grant (Virgin Media Yamaha),
6 - McGuinness (Honda),
7 - Billy McConnell (Virgin Media Yamaha)
Championship Standings:1) Laverty - 66,
2) Robinson - 40,
3) Lowry - 36,
4) Hutchinson - 30,
5) Easton - 29,
6) Billy McConnell - 25,
15) Tom Grant - 11
Related Linkswww.virginmediaracing.com
Related News
