The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Ben Wilson put two nightmare rounds behind him as he rode to a brace of top ten finishes in the British Supersport Championship meet at Brands Hatch over the weekend.
After two pointless outings on the trot, Kirton racer Wilson managed seventh and ninth at round six of the championship – but he drops down to 11th in the overall rider standings.
Wilson was running well within the top ten throughout free practice and completed his qualifying in eighth position to ensure he’d start the first race from the middle of the third row.
In Saturday’s sprint race he began well, launching his Gearlink Kawasaki up to fifth place at Druids on the first lap. But, by the time they started lap two, Wilson had been relegated down a place to sixth.
He gained a place when his team-mate Glenn Irwin crashed on lap two, but was promptly overtaken by Andy Reid.
Wilson then dropped down the order as far as ninth mid-race, but the demise of Danny Webb and Jake Dixon saw him promoted up field to seventh, where he remained up until the chequered flag to pick up nine championship points.
He was the tenth fastest rider in the race and was therefore placed on the fourth row for the feature race on Sunday.
Despite his lowly placing, Wilson got away to a trademark good start and was running in seventh place through the first three laps.
He was, however, pushed back to eighth when Sam Hornsey moved ahead. Two laps later Luke Hedger made his move and Wilson was further relegated to ninth and was losing touch with the riders ahead.
On the last lap his teammate Glenn Irwin encountered a problem with his Kawasaki and was rapidly dropping back into his clutches, with the pair crossing the finish line side-by-side.
Irwin was awarded eighth by 0.2secs, with Wilson settling for ninth position.
An upbeat Wilson said: “After the last couple of meetings I really needed a finish this weekend and that’s what I did.
“Fighting for a top ten place is not really where I want to be – but the pace of the front runners is so quick I just cannot match them right now. We have reached the half way stage of the season, so let’s hope things take a change for the better now.”
The next round is at Thruxton on August 2, with Wilson bidding to climb back up the rider standings and into the top ten.
