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GBmoto Racing's Missed Opportunities at Oulton Park

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Sunday, 08 July 2012 18:14
It was ultimately a weekend of missed opportunities for GBmoto Racing at Round 6 of the 2012 British Superbikes Championship, held at Oulton Park.

Although their Honda machinary is clearly showing improvements, the weekend did not see the strong points haul the team had hoped for.

In the first of three races, held on Saturday, Tristan Palmer was unable to capitalise on his strong eighth grid position. He crashed heavily, injuring his right shoulder. Luke Quigley was able to finish in twelfth position, equally his season's best finish.

However, Sunday's Race 2 saw Tristan retire early, as the pain in his shoulder was too intense. Luke was circulating strongly, and was unlucky to be passed on the final lap, losing fifteenth position and thus scoring no points.

For the final race of the weekend, Tristan was unable to take his place on the grid due to his injuries, after a joint decision between himself and Mark Smith-Halvorsen. Luke was elevated to fifteenth on the grid, based on the previous race's lap times. Much of his race was a lonely affair, as he lapped in fifteenth position for most of the time, although he did post his fastest laptime of the entire weekend. Sadly, with just three laps to go, he lost control of his machine and crashed out of the race.

While the machinery progression is promising, the weekend must go down as a disappointment after such early high hopes.

Luke Quigley, Rider:
Not the result I wanted, but I'll take the positives from it as the bike's still moving forward. The last lap of the first race today was a bit of a free for all and I came off worst, missing out on points. I don't have a clue about my crash in the last race, the front just washed, then the back came around and I couldn't save it. It's a shame as I was in a points scoring position, with a five second buffer to those behind. Hopefully we'll be able to stay in the points at Brands and I'll be aiming for the top ten.

Tristan Palmer, Rider:
I went out in morning warm up and the first race, but I struggled with turning the bike. My shoulder is quite swollen up now and I was off the pace anyway, so I just need to rest it. It's a shame because the bike's working well and we had good pace around here. We're more confident with the bike, so hopefully we can take that to Brands Hatch and have a good weekend.

Mark Smith-Halvorsen, Team Principal:
We've been on a good pace all weekend, we've made some really significant advancement with electronics and brake assist settings, but it's not been reflected in results. With Tristan's injury from yesterday, he's not really been able to take part today. It was sad not to see him on the grid this afternoon. After picking up good points yesterday, Luke couldn't convert that to anything today, which is disappointing for the team. We have some really good advice joining the team now, in terms of electrnics devleopment, so we will continue to move forward.

Article source: TBP Sports 
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