British Superbike Mallory Park, Race 1
James Ellison was awarded his second race win of the British Superbike season in a dramatic opening race at Mallory Park that saw the leading six riders crash at the Hairpin with seven laps to go, resulting in a race that ended on a red flag.
Championship leading Camier was forced wide by a crash.
Chris Walker (Motorpoint Henderson Yamaha) took the early lead from Tommy Hill (WORX Crescent Suzuki) and Simon Andrews (MSS Colchester Kawasaki) in what would become an eventful opening lap. Co-Ordit Yamaha’s Richard Cooper crashed out at Charlies corner which caused Leon Camier (Airwaves Yamaha) to come to a complete halt and Josh Brookes to take to the grass on the HM Plant Honda. Camier rejoined in 23rd place.
Andrews overtook Walker on the fourth lap when he dived down the inside of Charlies. Karl Harris then relinquished fourth to his Hydrex Honda teammate Stuart Easton at the Hairpin. Easton’s advancement came to end on Lap 13 when he was forced out of the race with a technical problem.
Andrews then came under increased pressure from Walker and Hill, with the Yamaha rider taking back the lead on Lap 19th through the hairpin.
Brookes better not run into Andrews in a dark alley, or else he might end-up paying for the Andrew's Race 1 robbery.
Meanwhile, Brookes had worked his way up to fourth after rejoining the race in 12th following his run off. Hill and Andrews were on the offensive though, with the pair slipping past Walker through the inside of Gerrards on Lap 20, relegating him to third. Andrews then took the lead from Hill, but on Lap 23 Brookes crashed out in the hairpin while trying to overtake Walker, resulting in his HM Plant Honda striking Andrews and collecting the front cluster of riders that included Walker, Hill, Harris and Laverty.
"It is hard to pass here and I sat behind Chris Walker to try and work out where I could get by and until then I had made most of my passes at the Hairpin,” explained Brookes “I set myself up for the move but the back wheel came up in the air under braking and I couldn't hold it. I just pushed too hard and made a mistake and I am disappointed for the guys that were involved as they deserved to be on the podium.. I was trying to get to the front and just pushed too hard. I have torn some of the ligaments on my thumb and I now have a cast on my right arm. They have said it will take a good few weeks to heal, but in the past when I have been injured it hasn't taken too long to mend. We will have to just wait and see what happens.”
Walker said, "This game can be cruel sometimes! I had worked hard and kept myself out of trouble which is a big part of racing at Mallory Park. I was settling in for the battle to the flag that you would expect the next thing Brookes came flying past me with no chance of stopping and wipes out all four of us! I took a blow from Karl Harris's bike and I hurt my pelvis which is a bit stiff, I guess you have to take these things on the chin and pick yourself up, but it was a pretty low point.”
After the race was red-flagged James Ellison was gifted the race victory, ahead of Leon Camier and Graeme Gowland, who took his maiden BSB podium.
Stuart Higgs, Series Director of British Superbike, explained the ruling, "If a race has to be stopped after the leader has completed two thirds of the original race distance, rounded down to the nearest number of laps, it will be considered to have finished. The order of classification shall be based upon the order of last crossing the finish line prior to the showing of the red flag, and only competitors who are racing at the showing of the red flag will be classified."
The six victims of the accident were therefore considered non-finishers since they were down when the red-flag was displayed.
A win is a win in the eyes of James Ellison.
Upon hearing that he was the race winner Ellison said, "I was actually expecting a podium before the start of this race and I rode really hard. I had to take avoiding action when Leon Camier was almost taken out by Richard Cooper. I then got my head down and put in a fastest lap and took it as it came. You have to take wins as they come and it is fantastic for me."
Camier said: "I was not expecting to finish on the podium at all in that race. I don't know the rule book but I thought it might have been Simon Andrews' victory. I had a dreadful start and Richard Cooper crashed in front of me so I had to avoid him. I then just had to ride as hard as I could and then just kept trying to attack. I was starting to close in on the leading group but I think if it hadn't been red flagged then I would have run out of laps anyway. I think luck was on my side today and I am definitely happy to have got some more points for the Airwaves Yamaha team."
Andrews said: "We ran at the front for twenty laps. I don't care what the race results say. I don't care what happened. That was our win. We've proved today that the ZX-10R is a force to be reckoned with. I'm off to Belgium now to get my broken wrist pinned and plated. My chance to set the record straight is in three weeks at Brands Hatch, that's all I'm focusing on now."
Michael Rutter took fourth on his debut with the SMT Honda squad, followed by Julien Da Costa (MSS Colchester Kawasaki), Gary Mason (Guay Garage Honda) and Steve Brogan (HM Plant Honda).
British Superbike Mallory Park, Race 1 Results
1. James Ellison (Airwaves Yamaha)
2. Leon Camier (Airwaves Yamaha) +4.345s
3. Graeme Gowland (Motorpoint/Henderson Yamaha) +7.401s
4. Michael Rutter (SMT Honda) +9.701s
5. Julien Da Costa (MSS Colchester Kawasaki) +12.870s
6. Gary Mason (Quay Garage Honda) +13.405s
7. Steve Brogan (HM Plant Honda) +15.617s
8. Ian Lowry (Relentless Suzuki by TAS) +17.531s
9. David Johnson (Team Maxxis Yamaha) +18.568s
10. Tristan Palmer (Buildbase Kawasaki) +20.443s
British Superbike Mallory Park, Race 2
Race 2 at Mallory Park was also red-flagged, this time after only 15 laps due to standing water on the circuit. Airwaves Yamaha’s Leon Camier came out the victor after battling with Chris Walker and Richard Cooper for the lead.
Walker took the holeshot off the line on the Motorpoint/Henderson Yamaha, with Cooper finessing his way past Leon Camier and overtaking Tommy Hill through the inside of Edwina. The latter move pushed the WORX Crescent Suzuki rider wide and dropped him to seventh, with Michael Rutter bumping him another spot in short order.
Cooper led a Superbike race for the first time in Race 2.
Co-ordit Yamaha’s Cooper set about narrowing the gap to race leader Chris Walker. With rain beginning to beat down on Lap 3, Copper closed in on the Yamaha rider under the increasingly slick conditions. Copper eventually out-braked Walker as the two came into Shaws Hairpin at the end of Lap 6 to take the British Superbike lead for the first time in his career.
Hydrex Honda's Stuart Easton had a weekend to forget as he was forced to retire on Lap 4 when a gamble on a drier tire didn’t pay off. Relentless Suzuki’s Ian Lowery also was the victim of incorrect tire choice, which caused him to languish at the back of the field throughout the race.
In the meantime Camier was charging ahead, and soon began jockeying for position with Walker. On Lap 8 Camier stuck a pass through the inside of Gerrards to take the runner-up spot.
With his sights set on his tenth race win of the season, the Airwaves Yamaha rider hunted down Cooper and block-passed his way into the lead at the Edwina corner on lap 9.
Ellison found himself in a familiar position in Race 2, as the runner-up to his Yamaha Airwaves teammate Camier.
James Ellison, Camier’s Airwaves Yamaha teammate, was in a heated battle with Walker for third, with the pair running side-by-side as the conditions on the track continued to worsen. Ellison’s factory Yamaha gained a slight advantage over Walker to take third, then shortly dispatched Cooper’s privateer Yamaha into second.
Cooper continued his downward slide as Walker and Buildbase Kawasaki’s John Laverty overtook him for third and forth. However, he was able to hold advancing Michael Rutter long enough for the race to be red-flagged on Lap 17.
“What a fantastic weekend!,” exclaimed Cooper “We came here with the intention of challenging for a Cup podium. To be able to get away and run with these guys was amazing, and then to lead the race for a few laps was unreal but fantastic for the team. This result shows just how competitive the Superstock championship actually is!”
The next round of the British Superbike Championship takes place at Brands Hatch GP on August 7-9.
British Superbike Mallory Park, Race 1 Results
1. Leon Camier (Airwaves Yamaha) Lap 15
2. James Ellison (Airwaves Yamaha) +2.032s
3. Chris Walker (Motorpoint/Henderson Yamaha) +3.738s
4. John Laverty (Buildbase Kawasaki) +4.385s
5. Richard Cooper (Team Co-Ordit Yamaha) +5.134s
6. Michael Rutter (SMT Honda) +6.604s
7. Karl Harris (Hydrex Honda) +8.580s
8. Tommy Hill (Worx Crescent Suzuki) +18.674s
9. Steve Brogan (HM Plant Honda) +27.661s
10. Julien Da Costa (MSS Colchester Kawasaki) +27.904s
British Superbike Mallory Park, Other Post-Race Rider Quotes
Ian Lowry - Relentless Suzuki - 8th, 20th
"I don't want to make excuses but I wasn't feeling right on top of my game here at Mallory. Other teams had been here testing prior to this meeting, so we struggled to find the perfect set-up on my GSX-R1000 Superbike to challenge at the front, which is where we need to be. I had a bit of good luck in race one getting eighth, but in race two we took a gamble with a hard wet, but we just couldn't get any grip with so much standing water when it poured down after a couple of laps. I've been really putting the effort in away from the track with my fitness, so today has been very frustrating and Brands can't come soon enough for me."
Tommy Hill - WORX Crescent Suzuki - DNF, 8th
"This weekend has been fantastic. From the word go we've been right at the front. And yet even when we've been topping the lap charts the team has been trying to improve things. It's a fantastic experience to be with a team that's like this. I'm devastated about the race one result though: I feel we've been robbed. We've put so much effort in all weekend only for things to turn around like they did and the result to be taken away from us - through no fault of mine, or the team, or any other rider out there except one - it's a lot to accept. That second race wasn't the worst result and it wasn't the best. Really, we needed a full session to get a set-up because with the bike, being so new, we simply don't yet have the data. Even during that race we learnt so much and we had revised settings ready to go for the restart, but it didn't happen."
