HYDREX HONDA AND EASTON TAKE TWO MORE PODIUMS
02-09-2009
Hydrex Honda’s Stuart Easton continued his strong run of form at Cadwell Park on Bank Holiday Monday and two second places made it five podiums from the last five races for the Hawick rider, consolidating his third place overall in the Championship table. The 25-year old had been strong during practice and qualifying, running in the top four throughout, and he lined up for the two 18-lap races in fourth place for a second row start.
As in previous rounds though, Stuart again proved to be the best starter in the BSB field and he grabbed the holeshot in both races. In the first, he led for the opening three laps before being pushed back to second by runaway championship leader Leon Camier, but from there he battled manfully to fight off the close attentions of James Ellison and Ian Lowry. Utilising the speed of the Hydrex Honda, Stuart put together a faultless race and successfully kept his rivals at bay, also pulling back four points on Ellison in the race for second place in the title race.
Race 2 saw a repeat performance with Stuart again leading the field into the first corner before Camier and then Ellison overhauled him. When the pace car was deployed for four laps due to an oil spill, he was behind Simon Andrews in fourth but when the race resumed on lap 9, the places were exchanged with frequent regularity. However, on the penultimate lap, Stuart made an overtaking manoeuvre at Park Corner stick and he held on for third at the chequered flag. However, that soon became second once more when race ‘winner’ Camier was disqualified after he ignored a black and orange flag on the final lap due to his bike smoking.
Team-mate Karl Harris had a mixed weekend after his qualifying performance looked like he was back to his best. The Sheffield rider lined up in sixth and on the second row but a sluggish getaway in the opening race saw him back in tenth at the end of the first lap and it was a start he ultimately never recovered from on. As the race progressed he slipped further back in the pack and 15th was certainly not was expected after a second row start. However, he battled back in the second race for a solid eighth place, restoring confidence and consolidating fourth place overall in the Championship, ensuring the team maintain their 3rd and 4th positions.
The team were also represented in the British Supersport class at Cadwell with Tom Grant having a one-off outing on the 600cc Honda campaigned on the roads this season by Guy Martin and the youngster put in a fine performance finishing in 10th.
Speaking afterwards, team manager Shaun Muir said: “Stuart’s been under the weather this weekend with a virus and has been patched up by the team of medics so I’ve got to be pleased with two runner-up spots. He made strong starts in both races and rode faultlessly in the first to keep the guys behind him and then dug deep in the second to get back on to the podium after being pushed back to fourth. It’s a bit of a shame that we didn’t take any points back off James but, overall, I’m very pleased with both the results and with how Stuart rode.”
“Karl qualified fairly strongly but to finish so far back in the races, especially the first one, was disappointing. It’s just not working for him at the moment and I don’t think it’s unfair to say he under-performed, we expect better. I’m not quite sure what we do or where we go from here so I’ll have a think over the next few days and take it from there.”
“To end on a positive note, I’m really pleased with how Tom performed and he made a great contribution to the team this weekend. He’d never seen the bike before Saturday and had a few problems to overcome but he ironed those out and qualified well. In the race itself, he put together a fine race and by the end, he was running the same pace as the guys in 6th and 7th so, overall, very pleasing indeed. We thought we’d give him a run and see how he went so we’ll sit down over the next few days and see if we can put something together for the last three rounds.”
The next round takes place in just under two weeks time, with the Championship heading to Croft, North Yorkshire on the weekend of September 11-13.