J&S Supported Rider Results - Round 4 Thruxton

Hi everyone, and welcome to the latest instalment of British Superbike action. Last weekend the racing came from the super-fast Thruxton circuit.

Straight into the result with Sullivan Mounsey racing in the Honda Talent Cup, Sullivan qualified in 11th place for the first race of the weekend and had a great start as he was well placed after the opening laps. At the end of the 14 laps, Sullivan finished in 9th place and added more points to his championship tally.

Superstock 1000 saw a fast and furious weekend of qualifying and racing. Tight and close lap times in this class with just over a second covering the top 12 riders. It was Aprilia man Fraser Rogers with started from 2nd on the grid, with Billy McConnell behind in 3rd, Luke Mossey just behind in 5th, with the final J&S backed rider, Lewis Rollo, in 18th place. Race one saw a hectic start, but most riders behaved well, and all escaped without any accidents. By the end of the 15 laps, Luke Mossey finished in 7th place, just behind Lewis Rollo, who came home in 6th, Fraser Rogers was running high in the standings right until the very last corner when Keith Farmer took him out, Billy McConnell just missed out on the podium place by crossing the line in 4th, not all was lost for Billy, he set the fastest lap of the race which meant he started the second race from pole position.

Race two saw much of the same with slipstreaming and a variety of different racing lines. It was hard to keep track of who was where. This time around, Luke Mossey got the better result with a 4th place finish, Lewis Rollo in 5th, Fraser Rogers in 8th with Billy McConnell down in 11th. Billy now lies in 2nd in the championship, only 5 points behind Alex Olsen.

Junior Supersport had an outing this weekend after the first round of the championship were alongside the World Superbike round at Donington Park. Zak Shelton started from 7th for the first race, with Osian Jones in 9th and Christopher Johnson in 17th. A pack of riders broke away at the front of the race, including Zak Shelton and Osian Jones, but unfortunately, Osian crashed out whilst in the leading group. Zak crossed the line in 5th, and Christopher scored points in 13th place.

Race two and Christopher finished in 33rd place, and Zak just inside the points in 13th and a much better result for Osian, who came home in 5th place.

In Junior Superstock, we had Caolan Irwin making another appearance in the class alongside Louis Valleley. Caolan qualified in 6th, with Louis in 11th place. A close race and a move at the final chicane saw Louis get the better of Caolan to finish just in front of the Irish rider. Louis crossed the line in 6th and Caolan in 7th.

The final support class to concentrate on is Supersport and GP2. There is no Dan Jones in the GP2 class this weekend, so just Ben Currie and Rhys Irwin on the Supersport bikes. Ben started the first race from 10th on the grid with Rhys up in 6th.

Race one saw Rhys end up with a DNF after crashing out whilst trying to overtake another rider. Give Rhys some credit. He was channelling his inner Marc Marquez by trying his best to hold the bike's front and avoid slipping off. Ben Currie came home in 7th overall but 5th in the Supersport standings. Race two saw better luck for Rhys this time with a solid 7th place in the Supersport standings. On the other hand, Ben had his best result of the season and stood on the podium with a well-earned 2nd place finish.

The final class and the Superbike races, qualifying, saw Joe Francis in 19th, Gino Rea in11th and Glenn Irwin securing a front row start on the Honda in 2nd place. More bad luck for Joe, who was taken out at the first corner. Joe just minded his own business only to see Kyle Ryde sliding across in front of him. Gino came home in 8th place. Meanwhile, Glenn Irwin was lucky to walk away from a massive crash after just passing Peter Hickman. Glenn was running in 3rd place but did his best to save a massive high-side, but he couldn’t quite hold on and was seen sliding down the track on his back. Luckily his Frank Thomas leathers held up, and all Glenn ended up with was a rather warm backside after sliding a far distance down the track.

Race two and better luck for Joe, who managed to finish in 21st place, more points for Gino, who came home in 10th position. Glenn carried on his recent form with a 3rd place finish and his first podium of the season!!

The third and final race of the weekend saw Joe improve from his grid position of 23rd to finish the race in 19th. Gino added a couple of points to his total with an 11th place finish and Glenn just outside the top 5 by ending up in 6th place.  So a consistent weekend for Gino with three points scoring rides and the first podium for Glenn.

Let’s hope this form continues at the next round, which is this weekend at Donington Park but on the shorter national circuit. So until then, thanks for reading and stay safe.

Until next time,

Danny