It was very much of case of discretion being the better part of valour as Victor Cox and Ash Beech both rode sensibly and solidly in extremely difficult conditions to finish 9th and 17th respectively in the first round of the Metzeler National Superstock 1000 Championship at a rain sodden Brands Hatch 'Indy' circuit on Easter Monday.

As always Cox was consistently quick throughout the weekend, with his ILR Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R never far away in the final shake-up during qualifying. Equally pleasing for team boss Ian Lougher though was the pace and attitude shown by team debutant and Superstock 1000 rookie Beech.

The field was split into two groups for qualifying and both Victor and Ash found themselves in Group B. The first session saw Cox down in 11th, just missing out on possibly finishing a bit higher in the closing stages as he elected not to use dry tyres as the track dried slightly. Beech meanwhile was going about his business in a determined fashion and the Moorside rider managed to get to within just 0.22 seconds of his more experienced team-mate which was an incredible achievement!

The second session saw Ash again impress as he posted a fastest lap of 48.03s, good enough for not only 14th in Group B but 15th fastest overall. Victor was also doing the business, running top 3 for most of the session he then topped the standings with just over five minutes to go and eventually lost out on third with only forty seconds remaining in the session to eventually finish fifth. However with the session declared wet and the organisers deciding to adopt the 'alternate' method of determining grid positions it meant that both Victor and Ash found themselves in lower grid positions than their qualifying performances deserved.

The early morning rain in Kent hadn't eased as the Superstock 1000 field set off gingerly on the first of their 22 laps and as they came round at the end of the opening lap Cox was 13th with Beech further back in 22nd as a few riders were already falling victim to the conditions. On the second lap for some unknown reason, Victor lost the use of his rear brake which put him at a big disadvantage as he uses the rear brake a lot. Nevertheless he soldiered on, by the eighth lap he was still in 13th and circulating with Lee Costello as Ash now found himself on his own in 20th. Two laps later and Cox was up to 11th and still on Costello's case as the duo now closed in on David Johnson. Beech meanwhile was now 18th and starting to put pressure on Billy Mellor who he relegated to 18th a lap later.


On the twelfth lap the Ninja ZX-10R of Cox moved into the top 10 for the first time in the race, but unsurprisingly Victor was having a few moments out there and was concentrating on bringing it all home safely. With six laps to go he was again 11th but very much in with an excellent chance of making the top 10, behind him Beech was 17th and doing his best to get into the points. With three laps to go, John McGuinness crashed out as Cox finally got the better of Costello to move into ninth, a position he managed to defend to the chequered flag,
Beech was now 16th but unfortunately just lost out to Sam West in the final few laps to finish 17th.

So two solid performances upon which both riders can build when the series moves to the next round at Thruxton this weekend.

Victor Cox:

" I'm just about dried out after that. Conditions were really sketchy so I am pretty happy to have just brought it back with some points to start the season. The team did a great job all weekend and I'm now really looking forward to Thruxton."

Ash Beech:

"Things were tricky out there today. In warm-up I was struggling for rear grip but we changed the rear spring and it was a lot better. I'm pleased to get my first race out of the way and have learned a lot all weekend. I can't wait to get back out on the bike again, hopefully in better conditions!"

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