POINTS IN THE FACE OF ADVERSITY: TJ Toms claimed a strong sixth place for G&S. Photos by DAVE YEOMANS

Solid sixth for Toms on frustrating weekend for G&S Racing

It was an eventful weekend for G&S Racing Kawasaki at Brands Hatch – but their hard work provided little reward.

Their shining star was TJ Toms, who battled through horrendous conditions to bring the little 636 home in a strong sixth place.

Milo Ward had three races to contest in the Pirelli National Superstock 1000 class with two back to back on Saturday.

He completed the first race in a creditable 26th place and went on to power through from a ninth row start to complete the 16 laps just a whisker outside the points in 16th place.

Sadly, a bike issue prevented him from taking his grid position for the third race on Sunday which was disappointing both for himself and the team.

Kevin Keyes also suffered the disappointment of a non-finish in the stock 600 race as he slipped from his machine in horrendous conditions.

He had qualified well and was hopeful of a strong result.

It was raining heavily when the riders took up their grid positions but that did not deter the young rider who relishes a wet race. But it was beyond dangerous out on track with riders slipping off left, right and centre in the dire conditions.

Keyes was up into sixth place on lap four and looking good and had just one slide on Cooper straight which flicked him over the bars, his race over.

Meanwhile, Toms started the race from row four alongside Keyes and rode a strong race to finish sixth. His race did not go as smoothly as expected, though.

He had a misted visor at the start, which luckily cleared after a couple of laps – but he was riding within a large group of riders and the spray impaired his visibility.

Then, the zip on his wet suit broke and the suit burst open so he was struggling with that as well. But he persevered and brought the bike home safely to pick up ten championship points.

Team Manager Tom Fisher said: “Our weekend was curtailed by the horrendous weather conditions.

“Milo did extremely well to finish 16th in the second race on Saturday and was looking forward to Sunday.

“But the weather was dreadful with heavy rain falling in the morning. We changed the settings for wet weather but when we tried to strike it up it wouldn’t start.

“We tried all sorts to get it going but it wasn’t having it. The ECU had failed and kept saying no connection and in the end we ran out of time and Milo had to sit the race out.

“Kevin was unlucky in his race as, although he loves wet weather racing, it just went wrong for him.

“He was riding well and just had the one slide which sent him off into the grass to join many other riders who suffered the same fate.

“TJ rode so well in difficult circumstances. His vision was impaired because of the spray and then his wet suit flew open. He had to ride with the suit billowing out as it filled with air but he persevered and brought a good haul of points back to the team.”

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