Round 6 Race report - It's all in the preparation!

Round six of the 125cc British Championship supporting the British Superbike was held North of the border at Knockhill Racing circuit near Dunfermline, Scotland at the weekend where Brian onboard the Xpress Racewear supported Banks Racing Honda salvaged a sixth position after making life difficult for himself all weekend.

Brian last visit to the compact Scottish circuit had been in 2006 so free practice was to refresh his memory although it seemed like he’d never forgot the place and after the first session had posted the fourth fastest time, a 55.50 second lap, very respectable beginning. The weather had turned by second free practice and the constant drizzle made it worthless to attempt a good time.

In First qualifying Brian could only match the time he managed so easily in the first session of the weekend and with others improving that left him 9th but with the afternoon session still to come and the weather staying fine, the team hoped that the small changes made could improve the time and get closer to Brians best ever lap around the circuit of 54.10 secs. In a very busy second session Brian struggled to improve on the mornings time and only toward the end of the session did he begin to make progress improving to a 55.26 secs lap but it wasn’t enough and with the session cut short due to an incident it left the team down in 14th and on the fourth row of the grid for Sundays 20 lap race.

‘I can’t yet pin point what is stopping us from improving, I am a long way of the times I know I can do and with this circuit being so difficult to pass on being 14th for tomorrows race is just going to make it so hard to get a result this weekend, it’s a long way to come for nothing! We’ll have a look through all the data and hopefully between Pete and myself we can come up with something to give us more of an edge’ a frustrated Clark said after a hard day.

With gearbox internals changed and a few other minor adjustments Brian matched his time in a shortened morning warm up and things looked like they could improve for the race. But once again Brian decided to make it hard on himself and the team with an exceptionally poor start to the race leaving him down in the mid-twenties after the first corner. Frustrated and disappointed a great first lap brought him back to 14th as they crossed the line and with 19 laps to go Brian set about in his normal determined way to make something of the days race. Battlign hard Brian managed to pull upto the group fighting for 6th position and after a few laps was deep in the battle slowly moving forward, a mistake by championship leader Glossop made the battle for 5th and whilst Brian was still struggling to settle on his machine he managed to get to the front of the group and began chasing down fourth place man Robbie Stewart. Time was running out and back markers were beginning to make things difficult allowing the chasing group to catch Clark. With only 2 laps to go Glossop flew by Brian and further backmarkers made it difficult allowing Deane Brown by also. Determined to get the best result possible for the day Clark kept his cool and into the hairpin for the final time made easy work of Brown but just didn’t have the horsepower to out drag the KRP machine of Glossop crossing the line 6th.

‘That wasn’t too bad considering the head start I gave everybody! We have a few things to address on the bike for the next round but I need to get my Qualifying sorted. We should have been front runners this weekend but instead I’ve allowed myself to slip further away from the Championship lead, I won’t let it happen again. Consistency is what’s needed and 6th is not where I need to be! I’m grateful to the team, they all wanted a good result and I’m sorry I haven’t been able to supply this weekend but it was a good race and I look forward to seeing the highlights Thursday night on Eurosport 2! Local round Mallory Park is next so I will have to put in a performance that really counts, I want to be Champion so from here on in its got to be perfect every round!’ said Clark dejected but positive as always.

Round 7 Mallory Park is July 17th – 19th with live TV coverage from 2pm on Sunday 18th on Eurosport 2. Why not get involved? Surely it’s more fun being with the underdogs? For more information, a brochure or even to pledge monies contact Chris Parry on cp@parrisprint.co.uk or 07770688559. Alternatively you can contact team owner Pete Banks at pete@banksracing125.com