Date : 17/07/2010

TOP SIX FOR SEELEY AND LAVERTY IN SATURDAY RACE AT SNETTERTON

It was an extraordinarily busy Saturday afternoon at Snetterton during round seven of the British Superbike Championship for Relentless by TAS Suzuki riders Alastair Seeley and Michael Laverty. In the Roll for Pole qualifying session for Sunday’s BSB grid [Race 1], Laverty and Seeley made the all-important Q3 session, qualifying on the second row in sixth and seventh places respectively.

The Relentless by TAS Suzuki riders then had to prepare themselves for the 20-lap rescheduled Knockhill BSB race two. From the front row of the grid Seeley eventually took fifth place ahead of his team-mate in sixth, with both riders notably inside the provisional top six Shootout standings going into tomorrow’s two races.

Saturday Race Action
Seeley got the holeshot in to turn one, closely followed by Laverty in a Relentless by TAS Suzuki ‘one-two’. The 2009 British Superstock champion then proceeded to pull marginally away from the pursuing pack, but the race was controversially red-flagged for light spits of rain. In the 18-lap restart it was Michael Laverty who made the better start of the Relentless by TAS Suzuki duo; but after some mid-race battles it was Seeley who eventually came home ahead of Laverty at the windy Norfolk venue. Laverty maintains his fourth place in the table on 156 points with Seeley now joint sixth on 112.

Alastair Seeley
It was disappointing to see a red flag after getting the holeshot as I was starting to pull a gap. I got beaten up a bit in the early laps of the re-start, getting passed mostly into turn one. Once I settled in and found my rhythm I could see Michael in front of me; that was the carrot I needed. When I got on to the back of him I could see where he was faster then me and vice-versa – thankfully I was able to nip past to take fifth place right at the end. I always said I was looking forward to Snetterton and we now have two races tomorrow to try and better today’s result. You always find stuff to improve on in a race, so we’ll make a few changes for tomorrow and try to get in the battle for the podium.”

Michael Laverty
I’m a bit frustrated to be honest. I thought I would have had a hand in the podium result here today, but I seemed to be losing a bit of speed on the front guys down the straights. I then had to ride hard in the other sections to make it up. It’s the first time this year we have struggled a little bit for speed, but we’ll make some chassis adjustments tonight and also look to get more drive out of the turns for tomorrow’s two races. I did get back onto them [Hill and Rutter] right at the end but it was a bit of a ‘Yo-Yo’ effect and I didn’t really have the chance of a passing opportunity; that was a bit frustrating, but we’ll be back fighting on Sunday.”

Philip Neill – Team Manager
“I’m a bit disappointed with today’s results as we have been pretty much in the top three all weekend up to now. We are all devastated the first race was stopped as both riders had made terrific starts and Alastair was gapping the pack. In the re-start the boys were getting passed in places they shouldn’t be. It was down to aggressive riding by our competitors, and if we are going to be challenging for podiums we must be doing the same in tomorrow’s races. A lack of aggression is not something you normally associate with Alastair Seeley, but the plus point is this: we have both riders in the top six at the moment, and this is not as easy task, as many other teams are finding out.”

British Superbike Championship, Snetterton, race one result
1. Josh Brookes (HM Plant Honda)
2. Ryuichi Kiyonari (HM Plant Honda) +0.594s
3. Tommy Hill (Worx Crescent Suzuki) +4.475s
4. Michael Rutter (Ridersmotorcycles.com Ducati) +4.989s
5. Alastair Seeley (Relentless Suzuki by TAS) +5.485s
6. Michael Laverty (Relentless Suzuki by TAS) +5.889s
7. James Ellison (Swan Honda) +9.148s
8. Simon Andrews (MSS Colchester Kawasaki) +11.305s
9. Gary Mason (MSS Colchester Kawasaki) +14.364s
10. Tommy Bridewell (Quay Garage Honda) +14.386s

British Superbike Championship standings after race one
1. Josh Brookes (HM Plant Honda) 191
2. Tommy Hill (Worx Crescent Suzuki) 178
3. Ryuichi Kiyonari (HM Plant Honda) 168
4. Michael Laverty (Relentless Suzuki by TAS) 156
5. Michael Rutter (Ridersmotorcycles.com Ducati) 152
6. John Laverty (Buildbase Kawasaki) 112
Alastair Seeley (Relentless Suzuki by TAS) 112