'Ride of the day' for MSS Kawasaki's Mainwaring
MSS Colchester Kawasaki’s Howie Mainwaring set the Silverstone crowd’s pulses racing with a stunning ride to storm through from eighteenth on the grid to lead the Superstock race.
However despite his heroics, Howie had to eventually settle for third place as Silverstone’s brutal straights exposed him to drafting battles.
The National Superstock rider charged through the field, making up eleven places on the first lap to join the leading riders. When three bikes broke clear of the chasing pack, Howie stuck with them and even set the fastest lap of the race despite giving away a few mph top speed due to slipstreaming.
A bid to break away in the lead on lap eight proved fruitless and having led into the final circuit, Howie eventually had to settle for third place.
Team mate Danny Buchan rode a strong race to retain his second place in the championship standings. Superbike rider Gary Mason continued to make inroads into the development of the 2012-specification Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R superbike while team mate Ian Lowry made an unfortunate set-up decision that ruined his second race.
Having set the eleventh fastest lap of the first race, eight places higher than his qualifying position, Lowry was unable to capitalize and finished fifteenth with an ill-handling bike. Gary Mason (14th in race one, 14th race two. Championship position: 10th) said, “Obviously the 2012 bike has a completely different electronics package to the 2011 superbike and we are still at very early days with it. We are playing around with chassis settings to try and be kind to the tyres and getting used to the new ECU. We are definitely going in the right direction and it is frustrating to run down the order but that’s racing and it will make us stronger next year. We have some good settings for Brands so hopefully we can finish the season on a high.”
Ian Lowry (17th in race one, 15th in race two) said, “To be honest I don’t feel good and I’m not happy with the results – for me or the team. We hoped the set-up change we made would work for us but it was a lot worse, which was really frustrating and I was lapping a lot slower. It’s not good enough but I’m hopeful we can use the team’s setting from the previous Brands Hatch round to start on a good footing at the final round of the season.”
National Superstock 1000 rider Howie Mainwaring rode the ride of the day to storm from a grid position of eighteenth to take third spot in an all-action battle for the honours in the Superstock race. Team mate Danny Buchan had a tough race and suffered from a lack of grip that saw him demoted to seventh place. Despite this frustrating result, Danny is still second in the championship, 14 points ahead of the third place rider.
Howie Mainwaring (3rd in race. Championship position: 5th) said, “That was a brilliant race, I was on the pace from the first lap so I just tried to pull the pin and go with the leaders. Qualifying was a struggle but I woke up for the race and stuck my elbows out. The bike felt fantastic and if it wasn’t for a bit of top speed we could have won it. To get a podium and the fastest lap from 18th on the grid is a great result. I thoroughly enjoyed that race and can’t wait for Brands Hatch.”
Danny Buchan (7th in race. Championship position: 2nd) said, “The start went well and I was running up with the front boys but by lap four the tyre went so wrong. The bike felt so soft with the tyre I couldn’t turn it and couldn’t hold a line. It was spinning up, drifting wide and trying to highside me out of corners. When the other riders came past I wanted to go with them but I would probably have crashed trying to keep up, which was frustrating. I have a 14 point lead on third going into Brands, so I need to concentrate on that positive and make sure I get second in the championship. In my first year in Superstock that’s still a huge achievement.”
Team owner Nick Morgan said, “That was a mega ride by Howie today, superb, ride of the day without a doubt – we needed that and it really picked the team up after a tough couple of rounds. And Danny rode well too, he has struggled a bit lately but that should help his confidence and getting second would be a tremendous result in his first year on a Superstock bike. The Superbike side of the garage is disappointing, we started the season so well, getting podiums and great finishes but something has gone wrong and we need to re-discover our form. The lads are grafting hard but something isn’t clicking and we need to get to the bottom of it. There is no reason why we shouldn’t be running with the top guys, hopefully we can turn the corner at Brands.”