Motorcycles and news

Coxhell fought hard to gain a 10th and 13th place and youngster Hickman once again gained some valuable Championship points with a 14th and 16th position. The two Hawk riders battled hard around the technical and demanding Cheshire Circuit and both made huge progress throughout the weekend.

Race one saw Coxhell secure a flying start and had moved up the 13th by the end of the first lap. Locked in a dice with Billy McConnell and Ben Wilson the three exchanged places throughout the 17-lap race, Harris, Richards and Hill all crashed out and Coxhell crossed the finish line in a positive 10th position. The young Australian got a poor start in race two and he was forced to run on at Hizzy’s Chicane on the first lap when he was pushed wide dicing for strong position. Leaving him in 20th place at the end of the first lap he was left with a lot of work to do, he slowly found a rhythm and manoeuvred his way through the pack. In the closing stages of the race he latched onto the back of a freight train of riders including the factory Suzuki of Steve Plater but was unable to make a pass due to lack of laps remaining.

Coxhell said “It’s been a difficult weekend to get the bike set up correctly and we were still struggling with a few issues during the qualifying session. I was unable to get a fast lap in qualifying and hindered myself by ending up in 17th place. I left myself a lot of work to do in the race, thankfully in the first race I got a great start and was battling for a top ten position. All in all I am happy with how thing have gone and hope that we can do a bit of testing before Croft in a few weeks time.”

Rookie rider Hickman once again used his time well and made good steady progression throughout the weekend. Although he struggled during qualifying he still managed to secure some strong results in the race and gained points in the first race. In both races he was locked in a tight battle with Kieran Clarke and Simon Andrews for positions.

Hickman commented “We are certainly making progress every time we go out and I am learning more on each outing. It was a difficult weekend, as Oulton is so demanding on the bike and myself. Everyone worked very hard to try and get everything set up right and if I could start qualifying a little better it might help me gain some stronger results for the team.”

RACE ONE RESULTS
1 Ryuichi KIYONARI 27:16.848, 2 Leon HASLAM +4.673, 3 Gregorio LAVILLA +5.805, 4 Shane BYRNE +11.573, 5 Jonathan REA +12.536, 6 Michael RUTTER +22.649, 7 Michael LAVERTY +23.180, 8 Scott SMART +30.844, 9 BILLY McCONNELL TEAM VIRGIN MOBILE YAMAHA +33.927, 10 Craig COXHELL +34.099, 11 Steve PLATER +45.903, 12 Gary MASON +48.483, 13. Simon ANDREWS +56.304, 14 Peter HICKMAN +59.734, 15 KIERAN CLARKE TEAM VIRGIN MOBILE YAMAHA 1:03.825,