Truck Links Yamaha rider, Joe Dickinson fought a tough battle to salvage another handful of points from Round 7 of the Fuchs-Silkolene British Supersport Championship at Oulton Park, Cheshire.
Having qualified his Yamaha YZF-R6 on the last spot of the fifth row of the grid in 20th position, Joe had his work cut out to get into a point scoring position.
Dry conditions greeted the grid and Joe got away in the middle of the pack, struggling to maximise any positions in the melee of riders around him. As the opening laps ticked by Joe started to make slow progress through the pack elevating himself into 18th position.
The pack ahead were well over 2 seconds in front but Joe found his pace and consistently improved his lap times. By mid race Joe was in 15th place, fully focused on catching the gaggle of riders ahead. Having whittled down the gap he finally put himself in contention to contest a top 10 finish. A fierce battle ensued with Joe picking up a further two places as the race went all the way to the flag, missing out on a top ten finish by just 0.6 secs.
Round 8 of the Fuchs-Silkolene British Supersport Championship takes place at Knockhill Circuit in Scotland on 8-10th August.
Joe Dickinson:“The first couple of laps was a bit hectic with getting boxed in off the start. Once I got into my rhythm I knew that I was faster than the guys around me. By mid race I was just gaining on the pack ahead. Once I got onto the back of them I just needed to make up places, another lap and I could have made the top 10. I’m pleased but I needed to get a better qualifying and start to be up in the top 10.”
Rob McElnea, Team Principal: “Joe had his best ride of the season so far. To see him make so much progress is exactly what we expect from him. We had a great test at Knockhill earlier in the year so hopefully with Joe riding high on his confidence again we can get the results we deserve.”
Race Results:1. Richards (Triumph)
2. Kennaugh (Yamaha)
3. Lowry (Suzuki)
4. Martin (Kawasaki)
5. Webb (Honda)
12. Joe Dickinson (Truck Links Yamaha)Championship Standings:1) Richards - 141
2) Kennaugh - 116
3)Lowry - 95
4) Brogan - 75
5) Westmoreland - 61
19) Dickinson - 13
