Solid Seventh for Andrews
 The
Lloyds British backed Jentin Racing team left Oulton Park
with one solid seventh place result after Evesham based rider
Simon Andrews crashed out of the wet first race at Shell Oils
Corner. However Andrews bounced right back from this disappointment
to finally gain seventh place in the second action packed
Bennetts British Superbike race at the 2.7-mile circuit.
In glorious sunshine on Saturday, Andrews and the team found
a very good dry set up on the Yamaha and finished seventh
and eighth in the two free practice sessions. Heavy over night
rain continued into Saturday and the team worked hard to find
a comfortable wet set up on the bike, but not quite getting
it as far as they would have liked. After a few mechanical
problems during the day Andrews upped his game in the qualifying
session and put the team in a respectable 10th position on
the grid.
The rain began for the first race just as the lights turned
green and before the completion of the opening lap the race
was red-flagged. It then became something of a mad panic for
the teams who had to change to wet tyres/settings in a very
limited amount of time to comply with the quick restart procedure.
Unfortunately the race was short lived for Andrews who crashed
out while making good progress through the field in very difficult
conditions.
Andrews gained a steady start in the second race and was
locked in a battle with Scott Smart on the Kawasaki for a
number of laps. Making a tidy pass on Karl Harris moved Andrews
through to tenth place. Crutchlow and Sykes crashed out of
the race and Leon Haslam was later excluded from the results
after the incident between himself and Sykes, promoting the
Jentin rider to seventh place. Andrews is now 11= in the overall
Championship standings and looking forward to Brands Hatch
this forthcoming weekend.
Andrews commented "I'm gutted to have
crashed in the first race but I'd struggled in the wet all
weekend as we couldn't find a set-up that we were really happy
with. I still had a few mechanical problems in the second
race but knew I had to get the points and I rode a safe race
to ensure I finished and got in the points. Hopefully Brands
Hatch will run a bit more smoothly for us next weekend."
Team Manager Bernie Toleman said "The
whole team have, as usual, worked incredibly hard all weekend
and of course we were really disappointed after the race one
DNF. However Simon really delivered for us in race two, where
despite some mechanical issues we ended up seventh. We start
from row two at Brands Hatch this coming weekend and lets
all hope for better weather."
photo moto-photo.co.uk
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