The Hebden Bridge based CN Racing team had a tough day at Silverstone today with just one race finish to show for their efforts as Michael Howarth saved the day with a season's best of 27th but for Joe Dickinson and Cody Nally there was disappointment with a crash and retirement respectively.

Having his first ever ride on the 3.66-mile Arena GP circuit, Todmorden rider Howarth found the going tough but he continued to get quicker during practice and qualifying and with the 43rd fastest time, he duly qualified for the race. He saved the best until last though and, lapping over a second quicker than what he had done in qualifying, a strong race effort saw him make up 16 places for a solid 27th place finish.

Chesterfield's Dickinson was blighted by clutch problems at the beginning of the weekend and missed Friday's practice and qualifying session but he successfully qualified on Saturday in 24th. However, his race was over before he'd got to complete a lap as he crashed out on debris from another rider's accident.

Irishman Nally didn't even get as far as that as following an excellent effort in qualifying which saw the Athlone, County Westmeath rider line up in 13th place, he was forced to stop on the warm-up lap when the fuel cap came loose and was prevented from returning to the pit lane for rectification, meaning he was forced to watch from the sidelines.

Michael Howarth:

"With never having seen the circuit before, it was a big task ahead of me but I learnt more and more with each and every lap and having qualified for the race, I was determined to move up the order. I made some big changes prior to the race as we had nothing to lose and it paid off for me as I was able to race hard and overtake a good number of riders. The safety car period saw a few riders come by me and I was expecting them to drop behind again but they didn't so I had to accept the result. The bike's working exactly how I want it to so I'm really looking forward to the final round at Brands Hatch."

Julia Taylor:

"It's been a tough weekend for us and not at all how we anticipated but we're all delighted for Howie. He qualified in his own right and put in a brilliant ride to move up 16 places so it's great to see him with a smile on his face. For the other two boys, there was nothing but disappointment and having qualified so well, Cody was so unlucky to have the fuel cap come open. If he could have got back to the pits, we could have fixed the problem but he wasn't allowed to do so.

"Joe had a troublesome weekend and clutch problems kept him out of action all day on Friday so he was very much on the back foot. He managed to get out in Q2 and qualify and with good race pace, we all had high hopes of him finishing in the points once more. He made a good start but when Marshall Neill crashed in front of him, it put debris on the track and down he went. He took a bit of a knock so we're all hoping for better fortune at Brands Hatch in two weeks time."


Metzeler National Superstock 1000cc Championship (11 laps)
1 Lee Costello (Kawasaki)
2 PJ Jacobsen (Suzuki)
3 Keith Farmer (Kawasaki)
4 Joe Burns (Kawasaki)
5 Jonathan Railton (Kawasaki)
6 Victor Cox (Kawasaki)
27 Michael Howarth (CN Racing Honda)
DNF Joe Dickinson (CN Racing Honda)
DNF Cody Nally (CN Racing Honda)


Championship standings (after 12 rounds)
1 Farmer 182pts
2 O'Halloran 157
3 Cox 131
4 Storrar 117
5 Costello 114
6 Brogan 98
26 Dickinson 10
27 Nally 9

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