British Supersport Championship

In the Supersport class, Joey Thompson had a positive start to the weekend.

In Free Practice 1, Joey finished 16th but just under a second off the top spot, and he continued to improve his times in FP2 and qualifying to finish 19th on the grid for the first of the weekend's three races.

It was a frustrating first race though, as a poor start immediately put Thompson on the back foot and he spent the race in a group of riders all trying to break into the Top 20.

A last lap effort by Joey just failed to get to James Hillier in 20th who he finished one place behind.

Race 2 was only a few laps old when spots of rain began to fall as Andrew Irwin and Keith Farmer crashed out, resulting in a red flag.

The re-start was over a reduced 14 laps and, as in the first race, a battle soon developed between Thompson and Hillier for 20th place but unfortunately Joey's race came to an end with a lap to go with an engine valve problem.

In the feature race Thompson and Hillier were at it again with both running just outside the Top 20.

In another red-flagged and restarted race, Joey just couldn't get past though with Hillier claiming 20th one place ahead of the Team ILR rider in a repeat of the first race placings.

Joey Thompson:

''We struggled with set-up at Round 2, but the team worked hard to try to solve the little issues.

Unfortunately I just didn't have the pace to make it into the points in any of the races but we will keep working hard and not give up. 

Thanks to all my sponsors, dad, family and all at Team ILR for their support.

Roll on Oliver's Mount!''

KTM RC British Junior Cup Championship

Saturday morning saw Sam Laffins make his first appearance on track with Free Practice for the KTM British Junior Cup in which he finished 14th.

Sam then went over one second quicker in qualifying to claim a spot in the middle of the fourth row of the grid for the first of the weekend's three races, with two taking place on Easter Sunday.

The first race saw a real scrap between seven riders including Laffins, and in a dice that went to the flag Sam finished an excellent 8th and under half a second away from a Top 6 placing. 
 
Sam quickly settled into 6th place in the second race and again was involved in a battle for top placings when he unfortunately crashed out on the fourth lap, thankfully without injury.

In Race 3 on Easter Monday, Laffins was 13th at the end of Lap 1 but was soon in the middle of a trio of riders sorting out 10th place with Sam determinedly holding on to this position at the chequered flag to bring another promising weekend to a close for the 15 year old.

Sam Laffins:

''The weekend started great when I qualified 11th and finished 8th in Race One, only a hundredth of a second between me and 5th place and only lapping one second off the leading group.

For the second race I was moved up to 7th place on the grid but unfortunately I slid off at Clearways which moved me back to 12th on the grid for race 3.

I finished 10th in the 3rd race and I had a continuous battle with Adam Dunn and Jordan McCord.

Qualifying is very important in this class because you have to get away with the leading group and just go with them so falling off in the second race messed everything up for me because I was put back on the grid.

I would like to thank all my sponsors and Team ILR and Ian for all his help over the four days.

I would also like to thank Andy Reid, Joey Thompson and Ozzy Madey for their help improving my line and riding style.

Roll on Knockhill.''

National Superstock 600 Championship

Free Practice saw Team Sandown's Robert Kennedy well to the fore as he finished third just 0.35 seconds off the fastest time.

Saturday's second Free Practice saw Robert improve his time to finish 6th quickest and again well in the mix at only 0.4s down.

With Team ILR owner/manager Ian Lougher in his corner, Sunday's qualifying would see Robert dip under 48 seconds for his best lap so far to finish on the second row of the grid for Easter Monday's race.

Kennedy found himself down in 14th at the end of the opening lap of the race and he remained here until the halfway point when he moved into 12th with a late charge eventually placing him ninth, and still well placed in the championship in fifth.

Robert Kennedy:

“Overall I am happy with the result as it's the first time I've ridden the Indy circuit, but at same time I'm slightly disappointed that I could not capitalise on my grid position.

I struggled a lot in the race at the start, but as the race went on we got better.

I am looking forward to getting more mileage on the Sandown Racing Kawasaki at a test day this Thursday at Oulton Park.

This is another new track for me to learn.

My thanks to everyone that's made this possible for me.


Team ILR owner/manager Ian Lougher:

"It's always nice to come away from Brands 'Scratch' with everything in one piece.

It's an enjoyable little track but far too small to be used for BSB racing these days.

The whole grid of riders is split by a nano second, so everybody tries so hard and with it being so early in the season most riders haven't found a good base setting for their unfamiliar machines.

For our team, Joey was the only rider who had ridden there before, but RK and young Sam acquitted themselves well with the circuit, with both getting top ten results.

Joey's times were really good but it's such a hard and fast class he didn't manage a points finish yet, but I feel he is progressing very fast and it's not far away, plus a broken valve in race two didn't help.

We look forward to Oulton Park next time out now."

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