Virgin Media Yamaha rider BJ Toal upped his points tally at round 5 of the Fuchs-Silkolene British Supersport Championship at Snetterton, Norfolk today (15th June).
The 19 year old from Omagh had qualified his Yamaha YZF-R6 on the fourth row of the grid and was reliant on a good start to elevate himself through the field, but it was not to be. By the first corner BJ was back in 16th and had an uphill struggle to improve on his qualifying position.
Sheer grit and determination prevailed as BJ focused on the task ahead, it was not long before he found himself in a 5 way battle that included his fellow Yamaha rider, Joe Dickinson. By lap 6 BJ had managed to jump ahead of his original position into 12th and his lap times started to tumble into the 1.08s bracket as the race unfolded.
Meanwhile, team-mate, Nick Medd was making his come back to Supersport racing having been sidelined due to illness for the previous three rounds. Medd finished further down the order in 29th.
Now ahead of Dickinson, BJ was running in 11th and continued to make progress through the pack. A crash from Midge Smart at the chicane brought an abrupt end to the race that was then declared a result.
The sixth round of the Fuchs-Silkolene British Supersport Championship takes place at Mallory Park over the weekend of June 27th-29th.
BJ Toal: "I'm mighty frustrated if I'm honest with you, I got such a shocking start and it put me back to 16th. I knew I had my work cut out to get back into a good point scoring position and just focused on the guys ahead. I managed to get to 13th really quickly then picked off the places, my last three lap times were just getting faster and faster when the race was stopped. I'm not happy with that result but will have to look forward to Mallory now."
Rob McElnea, Team Principal: "BJ was very unlucky there, he made a bad start and paid the price for it initially. He quickly knuckled down and started to get his pace back to where it should be. His times showed that he definitely had top six potential had the race not been stopped."
Race Results:1. Plater (Yamaha)
2. Richards (Triumph)
3. Westmoreland (Honda)
4. Kennaugh (Yamaha)
5. Lowry (Suzuki)
11. BJ Toal (Virgin Media Yamaha)29. Medd (Virgin Media Yamaha)Championship Standings:1) Richards - 105
2) Brogan - 75
3) Kennaugh - 71
4) Lowry - 63
5) Martin - 48
=7) BJ Toal - 31
