Bruce Wilson was denied a top 10 finish to his race at Oulton Park when he was forced out with an engine failure on lap 11 of 14 in the National Superstock 600 race at Oulton Park on Monday.
Wilson, from Gipsey Bridge, near Boston in Lincolnshire had made good progress over the weekend and completed his qualifying within the top 20. He was optimistic of a strong result to get his championship challenge underway and after a good start made his way through to 15th on the opening lap.
He continued to make steady progress and reached 10th place on lap 10. But his race came to a premature end when the engine dropped a valve and he ran off the track to retire one lap later.
A bitterly disappointed Bruce Wilson said: “I am so upset that I was unable to finish the race. I was looking at a strong top 10 there. I thought there was something wrong on the start-line, as the engine didn’t sound right. But it kept going and I thought we had the result in the bag. I am so sorry that this had to happen, especially for the team who have worked so hard this weekend and also for my sponsors who I was hoping to repay for their support with a good result.
“But we have less than a week to pull ourselves back up out of the doldrums and get the bike fixed so must move on and focus on getting our championship challenge underway at Brands Hatch next Sunday.”
Wilson will have a lot of work to do at Brands Hatch, as he was only able to qualify the Team Inox/Motorcycle Racer magazine in 29th place before the race was postponed due to the snow. This qualification is to be carried over to the re-arranged race which is to take place on Sunday, May 11 and Wilson will be determined to haul himself up the order and move towards a points scoring position to kick start his season.
Picture credit - Dean Owen
