Round 3 of the Pirelli National Superstock 1000 - race review attached....photo credit Martyn Wilson
A brand new circuit to an
optimistic team after great results at Oliver's Mount the weekend prior,
Daley's confidence was showing. Unfortunately, the first two practice
sessions on Saturday, were lost to learning the track and building a set
up however, the second of our bank holiday weekends was to prove a huge
success.
Daley took to the track on Sunday, for his only session (qualifying) and
was still getting to terms with the track. However he comfortably
qualified for the race, 36th on the grid which left him optimistic for
the race itself with the other bikes around him, lapping similar times
in the dry conditions.
Morning warm up on Sunday, saw a drenched track as the rain through the
night had left its mark on the circuit. It did show signs of drying but
it wasn't going to happen, before the session had begun. The team made a
few adjustments to the bike to make it more compliant in the damp
conditions and Daley settled into a comfortable rhythm, 22nd fastest.
As the race lingered early that day, it was always going to be a hard
tyre choice for the team and they all finally agreed on dry tyres to
start the race. This proved to be the right decision, as the track was
dry until lap 8 where spots had started to fall on the circuit and the
organisers made a decision to stop the race, to allow riders to change
tyres if they felt necessary. Daley decided to chanhe to wet tyres, as
it seemed to be the trend with the other teams however, after the
sighing lap for the restart Daley had doubts with his decision as the
track looked to be drying once more.
The light went out and the racing began on a relatively dry track. Daley
slowly picked off riders ahead of him one by one, tyre wear was running
through everyone's mined but luckily after 3 laps, the heavens opened
and the rain started once more. Daley's confidence grew as the tyres
started to come into their own. Gradually picking off riders 2/3
positions per lap. Finally Daley crossed the line, in an impressive 12th
position, a career best in BSB .
The team were ecstatic with this solid result and Daley is now looking forward to the North West 200.
Qualified 36th
Warm up 22nd
Race to red flag 27th
Race to chequered flag 12th