Brands Hatch Oct 2018
Well this is it the last round up of the season, it call came down to the final round from Brands Hatch, on the longer GP layout. So he finally did it, a massive congratulations to Leon Haslam who secured the 2018 championship in the first race of the weekend on Saturday. Leon now goes off to the world stage to ride the factory Kawasaki in the world superbike championship.Now on to the last round and races for our sponsored riders this weekend. Mixed results for them all but lets start with Taylor Moreton who was riding in the Motostar championship. Taylor qualified in 19th place overall and that put him 6th in his class. Along with qualifying, Taylor also had a race on Saturday, in such a competitive class with the times between the all the standard bikes being so close the riders are closely bunched together. Taylor had a solid race and crossed the line in 18th place overall and 6th place in his class. On to Sunday and another race in the Motostar class, this time the weather was the complete opposite from Saturday, drizzle and rain all day made track conditions shall we say a little bit more tricky for the second race. All that being said, it didn't really seem to faze Taylor who went out and stormed to a fantastic class win by over 12 seconds and also come home in 5th place overall.
A great way to finish the season for Taylor who secured third in the championship with 220 points. Well done!
In the Supersport class qualifying was tight with the top 9 bikes being covered by 1 second!! Jamie Perrin was the top J&S rider who put his Yamaha in 5th place, closely followed by David Allingham in 6th, with Josh Owens in 8th on the GP2 machine. Harry Truelove starting from 13th on the grid. The Supersport guys also had a sprint race on Saturday over 10 laps. The race was red flagged in the early stages and was restarted over 8 laps. Unfortunately Josh Owens slid out at Druid bends on the second lap of the restarted race, Harry Truelove crossed the line in 16th place and just missed out on a championship point. David Allingham came home in 7th place and another top 10 finish. But it was Jamie Perrin who finished on the podium in 3rd place.
In the second race on Sunday it was mixed conditions for all the classes with rain all day and the track being damp and wet in places. It was a tricky race with some of the riders struggling with the adverse conditions. Both David Allingham and Jamie Perrin suffered a DNF, which is not the way either rider wanted to finish the season. Josh Owens kept his bike rubber side down and came home as the first GP2 machine and 6th overall in the race.
Final championship standings:
David Allingham finished the season in 6th overall with 199 points
Jamie Perrin 10th with 154 points
Ross Twyman 11th with 143 points
Harry Truelove finished in 18th place with 38 points.
Josh Owens won the GP2 championship
The Superstock 1000 class the championship would be decided by the final and only race for the Superstock guys this weekend.
Billy McConnell went into the weekend only 10.5 points behind Keith Farmer. It was only these 2 riders who could win the championship so all eyes on them. Onto qualifying and it was Joe Collier who showed great form and put his EHA Racing Aprilia on pole with a time of 1.27.049. What a way to start the last round of the season!!!
Billy started the final race from 6th on the grid and only 0.5 of a second behind Joe. The top 13 bikes were covered by 1 second!!!
Race day on Sunday for the Superstock class and again the wet conditions played a major part in the race and more importantly the championship. Track conditions were greasy with the rain still falling and spray coming from the rear wheels of the bikes. Both Billy and his main rival were battling throughout the race but unfortunately Billy crashed out on lap 6. As luck would have it his championship rival Keith Farmer, crashed out on lap 8.
Luckily Joe Collier managed to handle the conditions the best and came home in 4th place and scoring even more championship points in his final race of the season.
It was a great effort from all the J&S riders this season. Joe Collier who in his first full season on a Superstock bike finished 3rd in the championship and Billy agonisingly missed out on the championship and claimed a still highly respectable 2nd place.
Final Championship Standings:
Billy McConnell 2nd with 248 points
Joe Collier 3rd with 242.5
Andy Reid 8th with 79 points
Superbike class and 3 races for the guys this season, with Luke Mossey, Gino Rea and Joe Francis wanting to end the season on a high.
Qualifying was dry along with the first race on Saturday. Joe Francis started the first race from 24th place, both Luke and Gino missed out on Q3 and started from 13th for Luke and 14th for Gino they both missed out by only 0.2 of a second which would have put them in with a shout of starting from the first 3 rows of the grid.
Race one and mixed results for the J&S guys, Joe Francis only just missed out on a championship point by finishing in 18th place, both Gino and Luke scored more championship points by coming home in 13th place for Gino and 12th place for Luke.
Race two on Sunday and conditions were horrible, riders falling on each lap. Gino crashed out having a highside whilst exiting the final corner, luckily his airbag suit deployed and Gino was able to walk back to the pits. Joe Francis also had a highside crash but once again his BKS suit kept him safe and sound and able to take part in the final race of the day on Sunday afternoon. Luke Mossey crossed the line in 11th place.
The 3rd and final race of the season had more action, both Luke Mossey and Joe Francis ended the racing season with a DNF each. Meanwhile Gino matched his best result of the season and crossed the line in 7th place.
Final Championship Standings
Luke Mossey 15th with 99 points
Gino Rea 19th with 46 points.
So that's it, 2018 over and done with, a great year for everyone involved. Some fantastic results for all of our sponsored riders and here's hoping for more success next year.
But that's all from me for now and let's look forward to the 2019 season.
Thanks
Danny
And from all at J&S we would just like to say a MASSIVE well done to ALL of our sponsored riders - its been a pleasure to work with you. More news on sponsored riders for next season coming soon!
