Blackhorse Kawasaki's David Pearce was left to ponder what might have been in the Metzeler National Superstock 600 race at Silverstone when he crashed out on the sixth lap whilst battling for a place in the top ten. It was a disappointing end to what had arguably been his best performance of the season.

In Friday morning's wet free practice session he finished an excellent 13th quickest on the ZX-6R, being seventh quickest through the third sector and joint fourth through the finish line speed trap at 125.8mph.

Conditions hadn't improved much for the first official qualifying session later in the day, and David took things steady to finish 23rd, again he was amongst the quickest riders through the speed trap at the finish line at 125.0mph.

Saturday morning's second qualifying was held in dry sunny conditions and David finished in 19th place, dropping from 15th in the closing minute of the session just 2.55 seconds off the pace and only one second away from a place in the top ten. This time he was second through the Sector 1 speed trap on the ZX-6R and fifth through the finish line.

So he lined up for Sunday morning's race on the fifth row of the grid. At the end of the opening lap he was up to 15th just behind Tom Young. On the next lap David was back to 16th but was right in the middle of a five man battle and a lap later he had regained 15th and now set about catching the two riders in front of him. On the fourth lap David moved into 13th place and at the conclusion of the halfway stage fifth lap he was into 12th just 0.4 seconds off tenth place.

The young rider was performing brilliantly and was lapping much quicker than the two riders in front and it seemed only a matter of time until he was into the top ten. However on the next lap as he attempted a pass, the rider in front went across him and as a result David locked up his front wheel and parted company from the ZX-6R, thankfully without any damage to himself or his bike.

So a premature end to David's race but it was a weekend in which he really showed his potential. His best lap of 2:15.74 was 10th quickest of the race and 2.3 seconds faster than his best qualifying time and to qualify on the fifth row for the race was also an impressive effort.


David Pearce:

'I arrived at Silverstone feeling good because I had done a few trackdays before the event and felt more confident with the bike. We already had a good set up for the track and I knew the circuit well. I got straight on the pace but I was a little bit upset about crashing in the race because I was battling for tenth place.'

There was disappointment too for Victor Cox when the organisers took the somewhat surprising decision to cancel the Metzeler National Superstock 1000 race due to bad light. Victor had qualified on the third row for the race after dropping from fourth to tenth in the closing stages of the session, and both he and the team were confident of another high placing in the race itself.

The team were joined at Silverstone by Conor Cummins which was fantastic as he really enjoyed being back at the racing and meeting up with all the team after such a long time away. Conor said he can't wait to be back in action, but at the moment is unsure of exactly when that will be as it depends on his rehabilitation.

It's now a break from the National Superstock scene for a fortnight, but Ian Lougher will be in action this weekend when he takes part in the annual Stars at Darley meeting at Darley Moor.



Photo of David Pearce at Silverstrone
Courtesy: Clive Challinor Motorsport Photography