J&S Supported Rider Results - Round 2 Knockhill

Hi everyone, and welcome back to my blog and round up the latest racing action in the British Superbike championship. This weekend the racing came from north of the border in Scotland and the small and tight Knockhill circuit.

A condensed weekend which only ran over two days meant action all day long, with practice and qualifying and races for most of the classes running on Saturday.

In the Superbike class, all the J&S backed riders made it into the qualifying shoot out for the first race, with Gino Rea sneaking into 10th place, with Glenn Irwin just behind in 11th, and Joe Francis back on the 6th row in 18th place. The first race saw a tightly packed midfield, but at the end of 20 frantic laps, the 3 J&S backed riders finished with respectable results. Glenn crossed the line in 11th place, just in front of Gino in 12th. However, Joe once again just missed out on a championship point when he finished in 16th place.

Race 2 saw Glenn start from 14th, Joe in 17th and Gino in the top 10 again with a 10th place slot on the grid. A great start for all the riders, which saw them improve from the starting places. Gino was running in the top 6 for most of the race, but when the checked flag waved at the end of the race, he crossed the 10th position. Once again, Glenn crossed the line right behind him in 11th, and Joe crossed the line in 17th.

In the third and final race of the weekend for the Superbike class, Gino had a great start from 7th on the grid with Glenn in 13th and Joe in 18th place. But both Joe and Glenn registered a DNF, which wasn’t the way either of them wanted to end the weekend. Nevertheless, Gino had another point-scoring finish with a solid 11th place.

In Supersport and GP2, Dan Jones qualified in 17th place overall with Rhys Irwin in front in 15th and Ben Currie on the outside of the second row in 6th position. It was a great first race for all three riders, with all of them improving from the starting places on the grid. Dan finished 11th overall and was the 4th GP2 bike to cross the line. Rhys was 13th overall but 09th in the Supersport class, with Ben Currie missing out on a podium by coming home in 4th overall. Race two saw Dan start from 19th, Rhys in 15th and Ben in the middle of the second row in 5th place. Unfortunately, Dan had a DNF, but both Ben and Rhys scored well with 8th, and 9th place finishes in the Supersport class.

The Honda Talent Cup saw Sullivan Mounsey have a great qualifying and started the first race in 8th position. Sullivan was up to 4th and in touch with the podium places by the end of the first lap. Sullivan was still in the leading group and sitting in 8th place but had a crash and slid out of a great point-scoring opportunity.

Race two saw Sullivan start from 11th on the grid. But another DNF in race two left the young riding thinking about what could have been and missed out on some more championship points.

This weekend's final class was the Superstock 1000, once again a huge field in this class. Still, all the J&S backed riders with Ben Luxton set a time fast enough for 29th on the grid, home rider Lewis Rollo 12th with Luke Mossey on the outside of the front row in 3rd, but it was Billy McConnell took the pole aboard the OMG BMW machine. Unfortunately, race one saw Luke Mossey crash, which ended his weekend as he didn’t take part in the second race on Sunday. Ben Luxton came home in 24th place and improved from his starting position, Lewis Rollo crossed the line in 6th place, but it was Billy who once again stood on the podium in 2nd place and bagged himself 20 championship points.

Race two saw Lewis Rollo take the holeshot and lead the opening laps of the race until a small mistake cost him coming out of the final tight hairpin but still within touching distance of the leading group. By lap 13, both Billy McConnell and Lewis were in the top 4 and battling for the lead, and the J&S backed IN Competition Aprilia rider Fraser Rogers. However, at the end of the 25 lap race, the Aprilia rider who took the race win, with Billy taking another podium place with a 2nd place finish and set the fastest lap of the race, now leads the championship early stage. Lewis just missed out on a podium and crossed the line in 4th place. Ben Luxton had a great race and is always improving and finished in 22nd position.

So that’s all for this weekend. The championship now moves on the Brands Hatch and the first visit of the season to the Kent track, with the action taking place over the weekend of 23rd-25th July. So until then, thanks for reading and stay safe.

Dan