The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Ben Stafford bounced back from his crash at Brands Hatch to record an impressive 12th place at round three of the National Superstock 600 Championship at Oulton Park.
Saturday’s qualifying one (Q1) saw the riders begin the session on a damp track – but most still opted for the dry tyre.
Before the rain came again mid-way through the session, the Saracen’s Head star placed his Silicone Engineering machine in a very creditable eighth place.
However, torrential rain overnight made Sunday’s Q2 a different story. The pace picked up, but was still some half a second off Stafford’s best time around this track – and at the end of the combined qualifying the teenager slipped to disappointing 16th on the grid.
That did, however, mark an improvement for him.
Stafford battled well throughout the race and moved up to a very respectable tenth place, before a mistake on lap 13 demoted him to his eventual finishing position of 12th – despite almost retaking the places over the line.
The Silicone Engineering team now switch their focus to the roads, with Stafford set to leave for the Northwest 200 tomorrow (Friday), where he will resume his position as mechanic for Russ Mountford.
