James Westmoreland secured his best result ever this weekend at the tiny Scottish circuit, Knockhill, at round eight of the Fuchs-Silkolene British Supersport series, where he gained a fantastic second place. After crashing out on Friday morning, usual Centurion Racing rider Dan Cooper dislocated his right shoulder and knocked himself out ruling him out of the race this weekend. A phone call to European Superstock 600 rider, 20-year-old Dan Linfoot and Linfoot was soon driving to Knockhill to replace the injured Cooper and gained a solid 13th place on his first outing on the Honda 600.
20-year-old James 'Westy' Westmoreland was riding exceedingly well throughout the weekend and was the fastest rider in the two dry practice sessions on Friday. However during the wet qualifying on sessions on Saturday, Westy dropped to sixth in the first qualifying session but finally moved through the second in the combined qualifying, his first front row start.
Dan 'Linny' Linfoot made his first appearance on the Centurion Honda in the opening wet qualifying session and without adjusting anything to the bike Linny settled in well and made good progress, by the second qualifying session the 20-year-old from Wetherby, North Yorkshire finally qualified in a great 11th place.
Westy gained a superb start and was leading into the first corner, by lap four he had fallen to fourth behind Ian Lowry, Glen Richards and James Webb. He soon regained his form and dug deep and passed James Webb into the Hairpin on lap sixth and was hunting down Richards, once again making his move at the Hairpin for second. Lowry had already bridged a big gap and although Westy was setting fast lap times he was unable to catch the Irishman before the race was cut short and red flagged due to rain on lap 22.
A delighted Westy said:
"I'm really happy with the result today. I was happy with the start that I gained but I was a bit cautious on the first few laps as it had been a while since I'd led a race, after I calmed down and got into a rhythm, I managed to pass James (Webb) and Glen (Richards). I'm really pleased with the result and would like to thank all the Centurion team for working so hard. I would also like to pass my condolences to the family and friends of Craig Jones." Linny proved exceptional on the Centurion Honda after being thrown in the deep end, only riding the bike for the first time on Saturday and for the first time in the dry during the race on Sunday. Linny gained himself an extremely creditable 13th place on the race and two points in the Championship. Linny who currently rides on a Yamaha in the European 600 Superstock Championship and is lying in fifth place in that Championship has not ridden at Knockhill since 2005 on a 125.
Commenting Dan said:
"I'm very grateful for the Centurion Team for giving me this last minute opportunity to replace Dan Cooper, which offered me a direct comparison from the Yamaha to the Honda. Obviously having three wet sessions over the two days I was hoping that the race would be wet as I had no dry set up or time on the bike. I was impressed with the bike and would love to make the move into Supersport in 2009."
Race Result:
1. Ian Lowry Suzuki
2. James Westmoreland Centurion Racing Honda
3. Glen Richards Triumph
13. Dan Linfoot Centurion Racing Honda
James Westmoreland is now lying in fourth place in the Championship.
