Since her impressive results a couple of weeks ago at Snetterton, Jenny couldn’t bear the thought of a weekend without racing, so she teamed up with Fergus, her sponsor from sorrymate.com and headed off to South Wales, and the interesting circuit of Pembrey, for a bit of fun competing in the Hottrax Junior TAG Endurance Race. After a demanding 102 laps, ‘team sorrymate.com’ finished the race in 7th position overall, and the best of the 600’s, with Jenny herself, recording the 2nd fastest lap of the race.
Once again she would be going into a British Supersport round full of confidence…
Free Practice
Mallory Park is known as the ‘friendly circuit’, and it was nice to see that the weather was being kind too, at least for the time being. The circuit is extremely short, 1.41 miles to be precise, with 3 tricky chicanes, and with 36 competitors on the track, it was always going to be a freight train. Jenny settled in nicely in the first session, eventually being placed 31st with a time of 1 min 01.415secs, with which she was relatively satisfied. A prolonged period of rain made conditions difficult for the second session, and having completed an observation lap, Jenny decided it would be ‘unwise’ to risk anything, so she sat it out in the pits, as did Steve Plater, amongst others.
She later revealed, that it saved her some pennies too, not having to use another set of wet tyres!
Qualifying
Qualifying was as frantic as ever, with the top ten riders in the morning session being separated by just 0.728 seconds. Jenny was in 34th position heading into the final qualifying shootout that would determine the grid for Sunday’s race. With only 32 grid positions up for grabs due to the relatively short start / finish straight it was once again, going to be a challenging 40 minutes for the Ellesmere Port star.
Nevertheless, she quickly got into a good rhythm, and broke the magic one minute barrier, with a time of 59.940 seconds, at an average speed of 84.68mph. She may have managed an even better lap time had it not been for a slower rider proving to be a mobile chicane. Jenny, in determined mood, attempted an overtaking manoeuvre up the inside at Edwina’s, but she lost the front, and down she went for a closer inspection of the tarmac. At least she had remembered not to let the photographers and marshalls down, such is her good nature, she thinks of everybody! Glen Richards took pole position, closely followed by Yamaha’s Ian Hutchinson, who was trying to share the same piece of track with Jenny. Her combined qualifying efforts placed her 34th, and with only 32 riders permitted on the grid, she was told that she would be second reserve for the race the following day. She later found out that Ashley Beech wouldn’t be taking part, so now only needed one more rider to not make it, to be in the race herself.
Warm up
Jenny’s prayers were answered when news came through that Marshall Neill’s bike had terminal problems, and would be a non-starter. She went out for the 10 minute warm up being careful to keep the bike in good shape for the race, which she achieved with no hidden surprises.
Race
Just as the riders were circulating on their warm up lap, the great British weather decided it wanted a piece of the action, so down came the rain, heavily for a short period. Inevitably the start of the race was delayed. The next challenge was which tyres to use, Jenny’s wet weather tyres were back at the awning, as the sudden heavy rain wasn’t anticipated, and so intermediate tyres were the only option available for the quick change on the grid. The majority of the riders opted for full wet weather tyres, however front row qualifier Chris Martin, like Jenny was running intermediate tyres. Once the lights went out, Jenny settled in at the back of the field, riding within her capabilities, allowing those with full wet tyres to fight it out in the difficult and changeable conditions. Chris Martin pulled into pit lane, presumably with tyre issues, but Jenny’s lap times improved as the race progressed, as did her position, due to some of the riders being too ambitious on the slippery surface. She arrived in 23rd position overall at the chequered flag, and 7th of the cup competitors, a result which moves her comfortably into 8th place in the British Supersport Cup. The race was dominated by South African, Hudson Kennaugh, who went on to win by 20 seconds.
British Supersport Cup (Positions after Round 6 – Mallory Park)
1. Andy Weymouth 125pts
2. Craig Fitzpatrick 120
3. Dean Hipwell 74
4. Alistair Fagan 66
5. Ross Walter 64
6. Patrick McDougall 40
7. Adam Tempest 40
8. Jenny Tinmouth 27
9. Paul Veazey 26
10. James Dye 25
Jenny’s next outing in the British Supersport series takes place over the weekend of 18th-20th July at her local circuit; Oulton Park in Cheshire.
For race reports from Jenny herself please visit;
www.jennytinmouth.com/jennyblog.html
www.jennytinmouth.com
www.sorrymate.com
Article by Martin Knighton (Freelance Motorsport PR - martin.knighton@btinternet.com)
Photograph by Paul Pearson.
www.bsbsuperbikes.co.uk
