After the dry qualification on the Friday the Bwin.com British Grand Prix gave typical British weather on the Saturday with a lot of rain. Because of the rain nobody from the DeGraaf Grand Prix Team could improve his lap time. Danny Webb and Stevie Bonsey will start tomorrow from the 4th row based on the qualification times from yesterday. Hugo van den Berg will start tomorrow from the 7th row.
In the Saturday morning free practice there were a lot of crashes. 19 riders crashed out and also the three riders of the DeGraaf Grand Prix Team. Danny Webb crashed out halfway the session but was able to bring back his Aprilia to the garage. After the team fixed the bike Webb could ride the last 5 minutes of the session and finished on a 23rd position. Stevie Bonsey crashed in the last 10 minutes just when he moved up to a 10th position on the timesheets. Stevie ended the session on this good 10th position. Also Hugo van den Berg crashed but did this in the last minute of the session. Van den Berg had a very good session and ended the session on a 12th position.
The qualification session was also wet and in this session again a lot of riders crashed. From the DeGraaf Grand Prix Team riders only Danny Webb crashed in the qualification session. Stevie Bonsey and Hugo van den Berg managed to survive this session.
Hugo van den Berg left a good impression in the qualification. Van den Berg stayed out the whole session and improved his lap time lap by lap. At the end of the session Van den Berg saw his name on the 15th position. Tomorrow Van den Berg will start from the 7th row on the 28th position. Normally Van den Berg will start from the 29th position but Spanish rider Pol Espargaro broke his collarbone and every rider from P5 will move up one position.
Stevie Bonsey decided to ride only a few laps because it was no use to push in this qualification. In his last lap Bonsey nearly crashed and decided to come in earlier than planned. Bonsey ended this session on a 13th position. Bonsey will start from the 15th position tomorrow on the 4th row.
Danny Webb crashed again in the qualification session in his 5th fast lap. It was the same corner as this morning but luckily he wasn’t hurt. After the crash Webb brought back his bike into the garage and decided to stop this session for him. Webb will start the race tomorrow on the 13th position on the 4th row.
Hugo van den Berg (28th, 1:40,357):”Riding in the rain goes better and better for me. The track is really slippery in the rain but with my bike I could feel the limit. In the morning session I crashed but it was a small one and I didn’t hurt myself. I can ride a good rhythm and in the rain I feel comfortable and managed to ride into the top 15. I’m happy with the results for today and we have to wait and see what the weather will do tomorrow.”
Danny Webb (13th, 1:38,473): “I can’t believe that I crashed twice today! It was really slippery today in the rain and I tried to make the best out of it. I feel comfortable in the rain but two times I crashed coming out of the first corner. But tomorrow is the race and I think it is going to be a great race. I prefer the race in dry circumstances but if it is raining it will be also ok.”
Stevie Bonsey (16th, 1:38,606): “Well today was messy with all the crashes. It was so slippery I decided to only take a few laps in the second qualification. So tomorrow I will start from the 4th row and it doesn’t really matter for me if it is going to be dry or wet in the race.”
