Username
Password
National Superstock - Mainwaring at Brands Hatch

© Raceline Photography
By blue2bikes May 13 2008
Gremlins returned to haunt National Superstock rider Howie Mainwaring at the re-run of the Brands Hatch first round, which was snowed off in April. Howie, riding his Suzuki GSX-R1000 backed by Suzuki UK and Carole Nash, was looking keen during the warm up laps in the morning sessions, but the race itself was to be a different story.

Having qualified in 12th position for the National Superstock Championship, with perfect weather and high track temperatures for race day, Howie was looking forward to obtaining a good result.

Howie’s time racing at Brands has always been an up and down affair, with one thing or another blocking his way to gaining a good finish - mostly caused by spurious machine failures.

The race got off to a clean start and Howie moved through the pack to come within striking distance of a possible third place finish.  As he entered Druids Bend, at the top of the circuit, he experienced front brake fade.

As the race continued, Howie suffered some scary moments of not having front
brakes at all.  On entering Druids with only three laps remaining from completing the race, the front brakes completely locked up, causing Howie to fall from his machine.  Fortunately he suffered no injuries.

Howie has not scored any points in the last two rounds of the series, but there is still a long way to go, and Howie said after the race, “I had some quite scary moments out there - the last thing you want are brakes that don’t work properly.  It was hot out there today, and the temperatures were in high 29s in the shade, so the track temperatures were very high.

“Although I didn’t qualify where I would have liked, I was up for putting in a good challenge for a top placing and was running with the leaders.  Had it not been for the problems with the brakes - which were perfect throughout the practice sessions - I could possibly have come away with a podium finish.

“That’s racing and I can only look forward to Donington Park, in two weeks’ time.  My Suzuki machine ran perfectly, and I can only hope that my luck turns around and we can get our heads down and concentrate on getting some good results.”

 

Bookmark or share this story with: