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Manx ace Conor Cummins narrowly missed out on the points at Brands Hatch on Sunday when he finished in 18th place in the latest round of the Metzeler National Superstock 1000cc Championship. The Blackhorse Kawasaki rider was looking to make it two successive points scoring finishes but he missed out by just two seconds after another strong ride.
A solid start to the weekend saw Conor post the 19th fastest time in the first qualifying session around the 2.43-mile GP circuit and he went quicker still in the second and final session, taking three tenths off his time to record a new best of 1m30.659s. Although he slipped back to 22nd, he was only just over 1.5s off pole position and well in contention for scoring points come race day.

An excellent start to the 15-lap race made that possibility come closer to reality as he leapt up to 16th place at the end of the first lap, right on the tail of fellow road racer John McGuinness. It was here where Conor remained until lap 4 when fellow Kawasaki rider Patrick Medcalf pushed him back a place to 17th but he was still well in contention for the points, part of an eight rider group battling for 12th place. Although Chris Northover and Lee Costello overhauled him, he remained in 18th when team-mate Victor Cox crashed out but any hopes of climbing any higher were ended when the race was stopped prematurely due to a rain shower hitting the Kent venue and so he had to settle for another 18th place finish.

Speaking afterwards, a satisfied Conor said:

"Whilst I didn't finish in the points today, I thoroughly enjoyed today's race and learnt an awful lot about the bike so it should stand us in good stead for the rest of the season. I got a really good start and made a good jump forward so the plan was to run as consistent a pace as I could. I was right behind John so wanted to follow him but I made a couple of mistakes here and there and struggled for consistency which was why I ended up dropping back a bit. It's been hard to find a good set-up this weekend but the bike was a lot better for the race and if it wasn't for my little mistakes I'm sure we could have been in the points."
"It's a new bike and we're learning all the time, continually making strides forward so it would be great if we could get some solid, consistent finishes in the final few rounds. I'm enjoying myself and am getting ever closer to being where I want to be so a big thanks to everyone in the Blackhorse Kawasaki team and my personal sponsors - we're not a million miles away so we can be confident heading to the next round."

Before that though, Conor returns to the roads and the Ulster Grand Prix, where he'll link up once more with the McAdoo Racing Kawasaki squad. Practice around the Dundrod circuit gets underway on Wednesday.


Phil Wain
Freelance PR

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