The Centurion Racing Team put their delivery of two 07 Honda’s to good use this weekend at round eight of the Maxxis British Supersport Championship at Oulton Park. Riders James Westmoreland and Dan Cooper scored a stunning seventh and eighth position in the difficult 14-lap race.
Varied weather conditions throughout the weekend had allowed the two youngsters plenty of time to find a good set up for both the wet and the dry. By race day the rain was still coming down and the pair certainly did not disappoint and they made the most of their new bikes.
Westy adjusted well to his new machinery and posted strong times throughout the weekend and was consistently in the top 15 with him setting the third fastest time in the soaked Friday afternoon practice session. Eventually qualifying in 12th the youngster from Hull got a reasonably start but slipped back to 14th by lap two, he soon regained his composure and worked his way back through the pack, battling with his team-mate Cooper for seventh place and winning the Supersport Cup race in the progress.
Commenting Westy said “The weekend was a great success and to score solid points has done me a world of good in both Championships. The new 2007 Centurion Honda is awesome and I can’t thank the team enough for what they have done. I was reasonably happy with my race today. I definitely think my average qualifying session messed me up a bit in today’s race, otherwise things could have been very different. We have proved we are fast in the wet and dry and on new bikes it’s very good news. I’m really motivated for the remaining five round and want to keep moving forward.”
Dan Cooper was unlucky to miss out on seventh place by 0.01 of a second from Westy as they crossed the finish line after the demanding race. After qualifying in 22nd position Cooper had a storming ride in the wet condition to ride through the pack and gain a very valuable and well earned eighth position. A fantastic start saw the 20-year-old from Stroud jump to 15th position after the first lap, each lap he moved further up the score board and had his team-mate set in his sights. The pair crossed the line almost touching and Cooper narrowly missed out to Westy.
Speaking with Cooper he said “I found it difficult at first to adjust to the new bikes and we had to make quite a lot of changes before I felt comfortable.
This hindered my progress a bit through practice and qualifying sessions. I definitely managed to find a good wet set up on Friday but I struggled a little to find a good dry one. When I saw it was raining on race day I felt a bit more confident and hoped that I could gain a good result. I got a really good start in the race and just had to work myself through the field, it’s really important for me now to work on my qualifying position to allow me to be on an equal par with the others riders and not having to start half way down the pack, which leaves me with a lot of work to do. I’m looking forward to Mallory next week.”
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