Rob Mac Racing's Karl Harris completed his first race distances of the season with two solid finishes, elevating him up the scoreboard to start his Championship campaign at Donington Park yesterday.
‘Bomber' Harris topped the time sheets with his blisteringly fast pace throughout free practice, posting a 0.5 second lead over his rivals in the final dry free practice. A forecasted downpour deemed the sole qualifying session wet and Harris fell victim to the ultra slippery conditions, crashing out twice to finally qualify in 10th place.
A great start to Race 1 saw Karl elevate himself to fifth by the time he entered the Craner curves for the first time, taking Michael Rutter for fourth place into the Melbourne Loop before the end of the lap. By lap three the Honda of James Ellison was added to the list, putting Karl into third place. With championship leaders Crutchlow and Byrne ahead Karl put his head down to battle it out for the top spot of the podium, posting the fastest lap of the race on Lap 6 (1:32.990). The burning Suzuki of Luke Quigley deployed the safety car on Lap 8, bunching all the riders together behind race leader Byrne for the next three laps.
With the safety car in and the riders back under race orders, Harris took the opportunity to take Crutchlow into Redgate for 2nd place. But by lap 15 Karl was under pressure from Haslam who had overtaken his team-mate in his quest for victory. With Haslam still on the charge Karl dropped back to third at the Melbourne Loop to be taken again in the very same place a lap later by Tom Sykes. It was apparent that Karl was struggling to maintain his position in the final stages of the race, further losing out to Ellison, eventually finishing in 7th place. Directly after the race Karl complained of an uncharacteristic arm pump problem, a result of his first full 20 laps under race conditions.
Another good start from the ‘Bomber' put him into 8th place for the opening laps of the second race. Karl caught the Ducati of Michael Rutter by lap 5 elevating him into 7th. With Championship leader Byrne only just over a second ahead it was evident that Karl was focused on catching the leading pack. Once again Karl set his fastest lap of the race on Lap 6, improving on his Race 1 time. However, a small mistake cost Karl a few valuable seconds and demoted him back to 8th with it all to do again. With his head down, Karl put in a determined effort to make some time back, overtaking Michael Laverty before finding himself in a very lonely race with the leading pack just too far ahead Karl crossed the finish line to claim his second consecutive 7th place and earn another 9 valuable championship points to start his season campaign.
Karl Harris: "I suffered in both races with arm pump, it's something that I have not really experienced before, especially in a race. I got a fairly good start in both races, but in race two the leading pack just got away. I'm pleased to know that I can run up the front and feel that if my arms hadn't let me down I could have been on the podium. I've had two strong finishes now and we can start to build on that, it's our first proper race of the season and a positive experience from the whole weekend. I can't knock the bike, it really is fantastic, with the bike and me both on form we will see the results come in."
Rob McElnea, Team Principal: "The whole team can breath a sigh of relief and we have got something to start working with now. It's a good set of solid results for what is our first full race weekend. Karl has proved that he is consistently running at the front, he suffered with some arm pump today but Donington is the worst track in the world for it and it's his first pair of races. We have got some good reference points for our bike now having run the full race distance. We are really pleased with the bike and with Karl and we can move on to Snetterton feeling like our season has started."
Race 1 Results:1. Byrne (Ducati)
2. Haslam (Honda)
3. Sykes (Suzuki)
4. Ellison (Honda)
5 Camier (Ducati)
7. Karl Harris (Rob Mac Racing Yamaha)Race 2 Results:1. Byrne (Ducati)
2. Haslam (Honda)
3. Crutchlow (Honda)
4. Camier (Ducati)
5. Ellison (Honda)
7. Karl Harris (Rob Mac Racing Yamaha)Championship Standings:1. Byrne - 190
2. Crutchlow - 122
3. Camier - 107
4. Haslam - 96
5. Ellison - 88
16. Karl Harris - 18Images: Steve Eyton
