Mixed fortunes for Centurion
Centurion Racing secured strong results in the Maxxis British Supersport Championship with their riders James Westmoreland and Dan Cooper. Westy gained a solid seventh place and took another victory in the Supersport Cup class whilst Cooper hit disaster on the last lap when he hit a false neutral going into the Esses and saw him fall from a healthy 10th place to 16th.
Westy had ridden extremely well throughout the weekend and did not fall out of the top ten throughout the weekend and mastering his way through to second at one point during practice on Friday. Eventually qualifying in seventh position the youngster from Hull was eager to gain another overall top ten finish.
The race was scheduled to be 18-laps but was red flagged on lap nine after a rider’s engine blew up down Craner Curves, the race was to be re-started as an eight lap dash. Starting from the position they crossed the line when it was red flagged this put Westy in ninth and Cooper in 15th place. As the lights changed Westy dropped back to 11th and Cooper held his place. Both riders fought their way through the pack with Westy getting the better of Sam Owens to finish in seventh place.
Cooper had ridden a stunning race and had pushed through to 10th place a big mistake on the penultimate lap saw him run across the grass and drop a number of places.
Commenting Westy said “I’m pretty disappointed with my seventh place finish today. I messed both starts up and was deep going into turn one. In the first race I got rammed into turn one by James Webb, which unsettled me, then I got stuck behind slower riders. I set the fastest lap of the race just before the red flags came out chasing down the leaders. In the second part I again got stuck behind slower riders and lost touch with the leaders. I feel disappointed not to have been on the podium, or even taken the win. That’s racing and now we move onto Brands.”
A disappointed Cooper said “I got caught up in the first corner trying to avoid James Webb’s crash and was sitting in 19th after the first lap and knew I had a lot of work to do. I got a better start in the restart and was slowly working my way through the pack when I hit a false neutral into the Foggy Esses and I ran onto the grass losing seven places. I’m gutted not to have got a better result but I did feel much more confident on the bike. I’d like to thank the team and also Dunlop for helping me this weekend. I’m looking forward to Brands and hope I can finish the year on a high note.”
The next Maxxis British Supersport race is at Brands Hatch on the 12th – 14th October where the season will conclude.
