Ben Wilson was in fine form at Oulton Park when he rode to fifth place in the Metzeler National Superstock championship following up with a dazzling ride to third in the Henderson Yamaha R1 Cup on Monday.
It was Wilson’s first outing in the Superstock series and he began the weekend by posting fourth place in first qualifying with a fast time of 1m. 40.956s – just over a second away from pole setter Jon Kirkham.
Second qualifying saw the pace hot up and the Boston rider was relegated to eighth place for a second row start to Monday’s 15-lap encounter. Despite dropping to the second row Wilson was still only a second away from pole and was confident he could match the times of the front-runners.
As the race got underway Wilson was quick to anticipate the lights and moved straight into sixth position. He was pushed back to seventh for a couple of laps but then began his challenge, moving past both Seeley and Cummins into fifth place before passing Marshall Neill at Lodge to seal fourth place at the end of lap five.
Not content with that, he pushed forward and despatched Howie Mainwaring to take up third position one lap later.
But Seeley and Neill followed through and challenged his position, going past Wilson when he hit a false neutral and ran straight on at Hizzy’s Chicane. He rejoined down in ninth position and began to mount a fantastic comeback, posting fast lap after fast lap until he got back on terms with Seeley and Neill. But despite posting his fastest lap of the race on the penultimate circulation he was unable to get past the pair and settled for fifth place at the chequered flag.
“I did go for third at Lodge on the last lap,” said Wilson. “But couldn’t quite make it stick. But fifth on my first outing on the bike is a good start and something to build on.”
After a couple of hours to catch his breath Wilson was eager for more race action and took his place on the grid for the second round of the Henderson Yamaha R1 Cup on a wet track in drizzly, damp conditions.
Having posted the second fastest time in qualifying, Wilson benefited from a front row start but was unable to maintain this and settled into fifth position at the start.
But, as the race unfolded Wilson inched nearer to the leading group and passed both Gary Mason and Jon Kirkham on the last lap to claim the final podium position of third and get his championship challenge underway.
“I knew on the last lap that I could get a podium position, to be honest I left it a bit late as second was in my reach. Anyway to leave here with a third is great, we are playing catch-up after the non-finish at Thruxton but I need to keep racking up the points to stay in contention for the Championship.”
The Henderson Cup will not be on the race-programme at Brands Hatch at the weekend therefore Wilson will not see race action again until May 26 when he benefits from a double header and the opportunity to pick up a double helping of championship points to move him closer to the top of the leaderboard.
Related Link:www.ben-wilson-racing.com
Picture credit - Helen Pask
