Brands Hatch had now become the third round of the British Superbike Championship, after the initial date set as round one was cancelled due to the heavy snowfall. The qualifying times from the original meeting would be used to set the grids which meant I would be starting from row four and 16th after a fairly incident filled qualifying. After a disappointing result at Oulton Park I was determined to get my season back on track and go into the International Road Races, one of the main targets of the season, full of confidence. I had done a lot of thinking and started training again after my injury at Thruxton.
Ian and the team had already left for the Northwest 200 straight after Oulton Park leaving us with one bike and minimum spares. Ian had spoken to K-Tech who had arranged to do some more work on the forks to try and resolve the problems we had been experiencing since the start of the season.
The track conditions were very good for the first free practice session with warm dry weather finally gracing the British Superbike Championship! I immediately felt more at home on the bike and the new forks offered a lot more feedback mid corner. I came in a few times throughout the session to make minor adjustments and managed to go over a second faster than I had qualified in at 1.34.7 leaving me in tenth position just 0.7s slower than the fastest time set by Allen Jon Venter on the Triumph. This was confidence building after the poor results at Oulton. There were a few changes that I wanted to make and was sure I could improve further.
The next day was the final practice session before the afternoon race. The changes had been made and the day was very hot. The session was quite frustrating because the tyres were overheating slightly and becoming quite greasy. Some of the changes made to the bike worked well and others didn't so the session was spent weeding out which did work and making final tweaks. Because of the extra heat I needed to re-calibrate to riding with a more loose style - just like in Valencia earlier in the year. I ended up marginally slower than on Saturday and in 14th position. It would be imperative to make a good start from 16th and try to get tagged onto a faster group and hang on until the end.
It turned out that a few riders that were present at the qualifying round were not at the re-scheduled date so I was moved up two places to 14th on the grid. The start went really well and was actually the best I had made probably in my whole career! Starts and first laps are not my strong point but at the end of lap one I had made two positions in 12th and was on the back of a big group including Alex Gault and championship leader Robbie Brown. I swapped positions with the group until the safety car came out on lap. This was a bi of a chance for a rest and to re-group. After the restart I suddenly found a whole lot more pace and quickly moved to the front of the group and 8th position, comfortably lapping as fast as those in 5th/6th at 1.33.7. The final three laps saw an unfortunate incident with Chris Northover and Allan Jon Venter promoting me to my first top ten finish of the year in 6th! My rear tyre was past its best and during the final few laps the shoulder injury played up a bit meaning Alex Gault managed to close back up for an exciting finish.
I was really pleased with this result and won the 'Metzler Racetech Merit Award'. It took a lot to pick up from the poor result of only a week before, and make the necessary changes. It is also the perfect confidence boost ahead of the Northwest 200 and then the TT races and I can't wait to get going with the 'Real Road Racing'!!
Olie Linsdell has kick started his 2008 National Junior Superstock campaign with a brilliant 6th place finish from the fourth row of the grid at Brands Hatch.
Lap Pos Lap Time Difference
1 12 1:42.172 4.442
2 14 1:35.152 6.054
3 12 1:35.440 7.383
4 Safety Car
5 12 1:34.742 5.612
6 12 1:33.797 6.121
7 11 1:34.001 7.303
8 11 1:34.340 8.514
9 9 1:33.890 9.332
10 9 1:34.103 9.900
11 8 1:33.828 10.913
12 6 1:35.205 12.926
13 6 1:34.803 15.552
14 6 1:33.973 15.695
Free Practice
Olie Linsdell was 10th fastest, just 0.787 secs off the pace during the Free Practice session for tomorrow's (Sunday) third round of the National Junior Superstock Championship at Brands Hatch.
Using a changed fork set-up, Olie was up to 6th at one point, however with times being taken from qualifying at the original postponed event, it means that he will start the race from the fourth row of the grid in 16th place.