Motorcycles and news

Tommy Hill put in his strongest performance of the day during race 1 to hold of the constant pressure by Cal Crutchlow and Leon Camier to claim seventh at the chequered flag. For once, the weather forecast proved to be wrong, and the riders took to the grid under blue skies.

The 1.41-mile Leicestershire circuit is notoriously difficult to pass around. With Tommy’s Pirellis offering the Yamaha YZF-R1 superb grip, the Lingfield-based rider found himself in a strong position to head the second group for the entire race.

Race 2 started in a promising fashion with Tommy making up three places from his grid position of tenth, to circulate in 7th for the opening three laps. However, with first Sykes at Gerrard’s, then Crutchlow at Edwina’s taking places from the Pirelli-shod rider, Tommy was soon on the back foot and battling hard to keep his Virgin Media Optoma Loans Yamaha inside the top ten.

Tommy held firm until the safety car was deployed due a three-bike incident at Charlie’s on lap 10. As race leader, Kiyonari pulled the trigger at the start of lap 13, Tommy was in a strong position to mount a charge on Crutchlow in eighth.

However, during the closing stages, the Lingfield-based rider could not keep track with the pace of the front group and would soon be taken by Rutter for 9th. As the field headed toward the climax of lap 22, Jonathan Rea ran out of luck as he crashed his Honda at the tight Bus Stop chicane. With his machine still in the track, the race was red-flagged, elevating Tommy to his second top ten finish of the day in ninth.

Virgin Media Optoma Loans Yamaha will now have a three week break ahead of round 10 at the North Yorkshire circuit of Croft, 10 - 12 August.

Tommy Hill:

“I’m happy with Race 1 but today was really hard work. I was struggling a little with stability on corner entry, which made them really physical races for me. I just got my head down in Race 1, I knew that Sykes had pulled away too much and Crutchlow was behind me. I was just trying to increase that gap and hold my position. Race 2 was tougher, I was 110% determined to stay with the pack ahead but to no avail this weekend. We have made the leap in faster lap times but it’s not enough. We have some testing planned between now and Croft so we will see what developments we can make there.”

Rob McElnea, Team Principal:

“It’s not been a bad day for us in light of the whole weekend. Tommy had a strong first race, bringing it home in 7th. For race 2 we made some changes and went 0.5 second faster which is encouraging. Ninth is a tough result for Tommy and obviously not where he wants to be.”

Supersport

Virgin Media Yamaha’s Billy McConnell fought back to claim fourth position with a sterling performance over 28-laps at Mallory Park today, 22 July.

As the riders launched from Championship positions on the grid, Billy circulated in seventh for the opening three laps as Dennis Hobbs stole away with the holeshot. Dipping under the Honda of John McGuinness into Gerrard’s at the start of lap 6, Billy moved into sixth and set about chasing down Robinson and Oulton Park race winner Ian Hutchinson.

Biding his time, Billy passed the Honda taking fourth position on the entry to Shaw’s Hairpin on lap 18. Despite pulling a safe gap between himself and Hutchinson, Billy was unable to reel in Hobbs for the final podium slot.

Team-mate Tom Grant did not make the best of starts. Languishing down in 11th at the end of the first lap, Tom had everything to do over the remaining laps to claw his Virgin Media Yamaha YZF-R6 back inside the top ten.

The fast-paced Mallory Park circuit is notoriously difficult to pass on, and although Tom could smell the fumes from Robinson’s Honda, he was unable to make the pass. Coming out of the final corner proved Tom’s sole opportunity as the pair faced a drag race to the line. As the two machines flashed past the chequered flag, Tom missed out on gaining another position by just one hundredth of a second. However, the six points for tenth position will keep Tom in eighth as he heads to Croft in North Yorkshire for round 10 in three weekend’s time (10 - 12 August).

Billy McConnell:

“Had I got a bit of a better start I feel I would have stuck with the leading pack. After the first few laps it looked like we were catching them. I managed to get past Hutchinson and pull a gap on him but by then the gap to Hobbs was too much. I’m making progress cause I’ve scored some good points and closed in on the guys in front.”

Tom Grant:

“I’m gutted. I got such a poor start and rode my heart out to try and make it back up. I was catching Robinson all the time and narrowly missed out on ninth place over the line.”

Rob McElnea, Team Principal:

“Billy had another good race and did a good job under his caution. He kept his nose clean at a track that is really hard to pass at. Tom Grant got a really bad start and at a circuit like Mallory it’s impossible to recover from that, you’ll never make it up in such a competitive field. We’ve maintained our championship positions this weekend and hope to progress them at Croft.”

Virgin Media Cup

Championship leader, BJ Toal extended his lead to 30-points over second placed Midge Smart with his fourth victory of the season in the Virgin Media Cup at Mallory Park today, 22 July.

An incident-packed race saw the safety car deployed as early as the first lap after Jay Fernandez lost control of his Yamaha YZF-R6 at Gerrard’s Chicane. Brill, Cusick, Billard and Howell were also collected in the process. The unfortunate Fernandez suffered suspected broken ribs as a result of his dramatic highside.

David Paton stole the holeshot from 3rd on the grid, and led a five-bike break at the head of the field once the safety car had pulled in on lap 5. BJ Toal swiftly moved to second at the start of lap 6, before taking Paton for the lead at Shaw’s Hairpin on the same lap.

A Leon Morris highside at Gerrard’s Chicane saw the safety car take to the Leicestershire circuit for the second time as marshals helped the stricken rider from the tarmac.

As the safety car pulled in on lap 9, BJ Toal took the bull by the horns and set about extending his lead at the front. James Webb slid under David Paton at Gerrard’s on lap 10 to take 3rd position before the unlucky Scot was judged to have passed under the safety car flag and would receive a 20-second penalty along with Ronan Quarmby.

Leo Aldersley’s race came to an abrupt end when the 25-year old was shown the black flag on lap 11 for multiple passes under the safety car flag.

Dane Hellyer, running in a strong fifth position, collected more air miles with a spectacular highside exiting the notorious Devil’s Elbow as the riders headed for the start of lap 12.

James Webb and Midge Smart reignited the double race battle from the British Round of MotoGP, swapping paint and places as the two backed into Shaw’s. Smart was to claim victory over his nemesis yet again as the luckless Webb crashed down out of Edwina’s, rejoining to salvage three points in 13th. However, Webb leaves Mallory Park with the new Virgin Media Cup lap record with a time of 1:00.972s posted on lap 11.

Despite running third on the track, David Paton would initially finish down in ninth due to the 20-second penalty levied on the Scot for passing while the safety car was on track. After a successful appeal, the 18-year old was reinstated in third and Ronan Quarmby in ninth. Robbie Brown took his second trip of the season to the podium, but would later be relegated back down to fourth.

Further down the field, a number of riders scored their best finishing positions of the season. Fast Bikes magazine staffer, Alastair Fagan, brought home his Yamaha in 7th while Israeli rider Yaron Salinger posted his first points of the season with a strong ride to cross the line in 11th. Josh Van Den Bos was another to bag his first points of the season scoring two points with 14th.

As the field entered the final few laps, returnee, Danny Harrison suffered a dramatic crash entering Gerrard’s. With the rider laying prone in a precarious position in the gravel, the race was red-flagged handing BJ Toal his fourth win of the season.

BJ Toal:

“That was such a hard race, the Safety Car situation made it really difficult to keep my concentration. I managed to get to the front after the first safety car went in then hold onto the lead from there. It’s good to be back on the top step again.”

Midge Smart:

“The race was a nightmare what with all the safety cars. I think that I could have had the win there had it not been red-flagged, I was really catching BJ at the end. I really wanted to win it for them, even though, this race is dedicated to the Bridewell family.”

Niall Mackenzie, Cup Mentor:

“It was disappointing to have five riders go down on the first corner, luckily it looks like they are only walking wounded and no-one was seriously injured. With the safety car out twice it was hard to keep the momentum of the race going. It’s great to see BJ take the win again, and have some new riders into point scoring positions. To have the result amended after most of the riders have left the track will be tough for Robbie Brown, however, if the riders in question were judged incorrectly it’s only fair that their original positions are reinstated. That’s racing!”

Superbike Race 1 - Result
1) Byrne (Honda), 2) Rea (Honda), 3) Haslam (Ducati), 4) Walker (Suzuki), 5) Lavilla (Ducati), 6) Sykes (Honda), 7) Tommy Hill (Virgin Media Optoma Loans Yamaha)

Superbike Race 2 - Result
1) Kiyonari (Honda), 2) Haslam (Ducati), 3)Byrne (Honda), 4)Sykes (Honda), 5)Crutchlow (Suzuki), 9) Tommy Hill (Virgin Media Optoma Loans Yamaha)

Championship Standings
1) Kiyonari - 298, 2) Rea - 282, 3) Haslam - 267, 4) Lavilla - 246, 5) Byrne - 228, 9) Tommy Hill - 110 (Virgin Media Optoma Loans Yamaha)

Supersport Race Result
1) Laverty (Suzuki), 2) Lowry (Suzuki), 3) Hobbs (Honda), 4) Billy McConnell (Virgin Media Yamaha), 5) Hutchinson (Honda), 10) Tom Grant (Virgin Media Yamaha)

Championship Standings
1) Laverty - 165, 2) Lowry - 133, 3) Hobbs - 123, 4) Robinson - 103, 5) Hutchinson - 83, 6) McGuinness - 81, 7) Billy McConnell - 75, Tom Grant - 59

Virgin Media Cup - Race Result
1) Toal, 2) Smart, 3) Paton, 4) Brown, 5) Hipwell, 6) Smith, 7) Fagan, Haire, 9) Quarmby, 10) Kentish, 11) Salinger, 12) Molloy, 13) Webb, 14) Van Den Bos, 15) Jones