The red flag put paid to Bruce Wilson’s hopes of a points finish in the Metzeler National Superstock 600 round at Donington when the red flag brought the race to a halt after just two laps.
Qualifying had seen Wilson from Gipsey Bridge near Boston secure a sixth row grid position in 24th place and at the lights he got away to a fantastic start moving up to 16th place on lap two of a scheduled 14.
But proceedings came to an abrupt halt for an incident at the Melbourne Loop and a complete re-run was announced over a shortened distance of 11 laps and Wilson had to do it all over again.
But this time Wilson got a terrible start and dropped down the order to 33rd position. But he got his head down and began to make his way through the back markers until he reached 25th place on the penultimate lap.
He looked to stay in position to the chequered flag but was elevated up into 23rd place when two of the riders ahead fell at the hairpin on the last lap giving Wilson the bonus of claiming 23rd place.
“In the first race I got a really good start and was catching the guy ahead in 15th place so we were on it” said Wilson. “But then the red flag stopped my progress. I didn’t get a good start in the re-run and got pushed back down the field. Because everyone is so close together in the first three laps it’s just a gaggle of riders all trying to outbrake each other and they end up holding each other up. I had to pick my moment and take them one at a time. My lap times were good and I was running at the same pace at the top 15 but the traffic just held me back.
“If we had not had the red flag then I would have been looking at a top 10 finish here today so it’s a real shame it got messed up. But that’s the third bit of bad luck we have had in a row so hopefully that is the last of it.”
Its on to Snetterton for the next round on June 15th where Wilson will need to address his qualifying times and aim for a higher grid position to enable him to get away with the leaders in order to lay claim to his first set of championship points.
Picture credit: Dean Owen
