British Superbike News

Bad weather played its part in the opening round of the British Supersport series at Brands Hatch, with track time kept to a minimum for the BSB support series riders on both Friday and Saturday. The race was cut short on lap 21 but the MAP Centurion Triumph race team were as happy as they could be with a solid start by their riders.

Dan Cooper and AJ Venter had a solid start to their Fuchs-Silkolene British Supersport campaign at Brands Hatch. By the time the race was red flagged, Cooper had just latched onto the back of the front runners, but due to the early stoppage he gained sixth place and Venter in 10th.

After a torrid weekend with weather conditions at Brands Hatch the two MAP Centurion Triumph riders struggled for good dry track time. Both riders are still working on finding a good set up on the Triumph’s which suit their particular riding style and with the appalling weather on Friday and Saturday, time out on the track was limited. Cooper was 12th in first qualifying and Venter 16th, with only Venter improving by one position during second qualifying after the heavens opened once again.

Venter got a blinding start and was 10th after the first lap with Cooper struggling to get off the line and was 11th after lap one. Cooper was soon making massive progress and working his way through the field and putting in some very positive lap times and was soon catching the leaders, making a pass on Paul Young on lap 19 for 6th before the race was cut short on lap 21.

Venter was sitting in a strong position after his fantastic start and was eager to push harder for a final top ten placing. A near out the seat moment at Druids forced him to loose a few places but he soon got his head down and was making good progress when the race was stopped.

Dan Cooper commented “I got a really bad start and knowing there are very few passing places around here I was going to have my work cut out. I pushed hard all the way and was catching the leaders when they red flagged the race. We have however made massive progress with the Triumph’s this weekend and what direction we need to go in. I’m feeling really happy and know this is going to be a good season. The team are great and really pleased with how things have come together, I’d like to thank all my sponsors and also the MAP Centurion Triumph team and my mechanics for all the hard work.”

AJ Venter was content with his result saying “I got a great start but had a big moment early on in the race which lost me a few places and left me with some work to do. I know what we need to do and we learnt more this weekend than we did in the test sessions and even in morning warm up we were still making small changes which made the bike feel much better. It’s all a learning process but it’s definitely all good! I’d like to thank MAP group and my team for all their help and can’t wait for Thruxton.”

2010 Calendar

Round 2
Thruxton
16th – 17th – 18th April

Round 3
Oulton Park
1st – 2nd – 3rd May

Round 4
Cadwell Park
21st – 22nd – 23rd May

Round 5
Mallory Park
25th – 26th – 27th June

Round 6
Knockhill
2nd – 3rd – 4th July

Round 7
Snetterton
16th – 17th – 18th July

Round 8
Brands Hatch GP
6th – 7th – 8th August

Round 9
Cadwell Park
28th – 29th – 30th August

Round 10
Croft
10th – 11th – 12th September

Round 11
Silverstone
24th – 25th – 26th September

Round 12
Oulton Park
8th – 9th – 10th October