SPLITLATH Redmond riders Mark Aitchison and Kuba Smrz crossed the line together in 14th and 15th positions in the weekend’s opening MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship race at Brands Hatch.

As Aitchison returned to action after being sidelined for almost two months, Smrz was unlucky to suffer electrical problems throughout Friday’s two free practice sessions, which meant he’d had little track time as this afternoon’s qualifying got underway.

Both riders sailed through to Qualifying Two, consistently setting faster laps each time. As the session ended, Kuba was 15th while Mark finished 17th ahead of this afternoon’s first race of the weekend.

At the green light, Kuba made a good start but lost a few places later in the lap after making a mistake, while Mark had his own problem which saw him get a slow getaway and drop two spots in the opening lap.

But both riders quickly regrouped as they rode together on the track, with Kuba 16th and Mark 17th until Lap Six when Mark passed Kuba.

From there they remained in the same order all the way to the flag, with Mark taking 14th, just ahead of Kuba in 15th.

“The way I was positioned on the grid and the way the circuit is laid out upset my balance a bit and as a result I didn’t get a good start,” explained Aitchison. “We’d made a change before the race and the bike didn’t feel too bad.

“The bike was good but it took a little time to work out, and when I did we really started to make progress. By the mid part of the race the lap times were getting better.

“We’re not really 100 per cent there yet, we’re still working with the engine map configuration so it’s not all working together, we’ve still got a bit more we need to understand but we’re moving in the right direction.

“My fingers have held up quite well, but they’re a bit inflamed and swollen now I’m off the bike, but it’s nothing I can’t work around. I think we are looking pretty good for tomorrow and if we can build on what we’ve learnt today, there’s no reason why we can’t be chasing some top 10s.”

For Kuba, it was still a case of playing catch-up after missing out on valuable track time earlier in the weekend.

“For me, it was not so bad. We missed almost all of the two practices and have struggled a bit with set-up, but today we have made some improvements although we need to do more still,” he said.

“We made another change for the race with the suspension and it was better, but I needed some time to get a good feeling.

“I got a really good start but made a mistake at Surtees and lost about three or four positions. I was getting a good pace and getting faster and faster. I think I could’ve caught Mark and maybe get two or three more places but it started to rain.

“We have definitely improved this afternoon and I am happy with our progress but I’m not happy with the result.”

The final two races of this year’s championship will be held at Brands Hatch on Sunday, October 14.

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