Centurion Racing secured a positive result at Oulton Park this weekend, when riders Dan Cooper and James Westmoreland gained a seventh and eleventh place respectively in the Fuchs-Silkolene British Supersport Championship. This was 20-year-old Dan Cooper's best result to date in the tough 600 Class. After dislocating his shoulder during first qualifying this was a fantastic result from the youngster. Westmoreland also improved from the 15th position that he achieved at Thruxton a couple of weeks ago and obtained a healthy points scoring position.
The Centurion team were missing a rider at Oulton Park, Dennis Hobbs, after the incident at Thruxton involving James Webb, Hobbs is currently seeing specialists regarding an operation on his shoulder, which he hurt during the crash and as yet it is not known when he will return to racing.
Cooper from Stroud, looked exceptionally good all weekend and despite his off in qualifying he was keen to get a good result after his disappointment at Thruxton. Seventh place at Oulton has seen him leap to 12th in the overall Championship positions. After completing qualifying he ended up in 14th place on the grid and was left with a lot of work to do if he were to gain a top ten finish. The race was red flagged on lap three after an accident at Druids and was re-started as a 12-lap race. Cooper got a great start and was up to 10th after the first lap. Fighting his way past Ian Hutchinson and Craig Fitzpatrick he was eager to chase down the 2007 R6 Cup Winner Toal, only 0.14 separated the pair as they crossed the line.
Commenting the youngster said;
"I'm really thrilled to have got seventh place. It was a really tough race but I just got my head down and got on with the job in hand. My shoulders were killing me at the end of the race but I was having a good scrap with BJ Toal and I'm sure I'll be feeling a little second hand tomorrow. It was quite a big crash in qualifying and both my shoulders took a bit of a battering but hopefully they will be feeling a little better by the time that we get to Brands. I would like to thank all the Centurion team for working so hard this weekend and I'm delighted I could get the result that I did for them. We go to Brands this coming weekend and I'm eager to try and get a similar result."
James Westmoreland qualified in eighth position on the Centurion Honda and was unable to gain a good start in the 12-lap re-start and was down in 14th place after the opening lap. After opted for an intermediate front tyre the 19-year-old from Hull struggled for grip throughout the race forcing him to make small mistakes and dropping him places. He said "I'm really disappointed with my result today; I was hoping that I would be able to run within the top eight and get a good result. With the drying weather conditions I choose to run an intermediate front tyre and I struggled with it for most of the race. I also out-braked myself at Knickerbrook which obviously lost vital seconds and a couple of places. It was a shame as I was running really good times with would have put me nearer the top end. I had an engine problem in morning warm up and therefore had to use the second engine from my other bike which was slightly different. Hopefully things will change for the better at Brands at the weekend."
Team Manager Gary Stubbington commented;
"It's been a good weekend for the boys in general despite some minor problems that cropped up. Both have scored points in the Championship and that's the main priority. After Thruxton we needed a little bit of a confidence boost and that was just the thing. Dan Cooper rode an exceptional race despite his injured shoulders; it would be nice to be able to gain similar results to those at the remaining races. We are still waiting to hear from Dennis and his situation but the team would like to wish him well and hope to see him back out on our bikes soon."
General Manager Paul Rees, was delighted with the results commenting;
"Especially after the engine problems we had. The engineers worked extremely hard and fast to enable the bikes to be on the circuits both at Thruxton and here at Oulton. Dan had to grit his teeth and ride through the pain in order to gain such an important position at this stage of the competition. It was a shame Westy out-braked himself at Knickerbrook though, as he was riding strong and this obviously lost him time and places. He did well to come in at eleventh position and gain some points. However, a good weekend was had and we are looking forward to the short visit back to Brands Hatch this coming weekend. The Centurion teamwork in the paddock was again exceptional, so a huge thanks go to the whole team for their efforts."
Picture credit - moto-photo
Words by Carly Rathmell
Related Links:
www.centurionracing.net
www.moto-photo.co.uk
