The Hebden Bridge based CN Racing team had a weekend to forget at Brands Hatch for the final round of the 2012 Metzeler National Superstock 1000 Championship with no points to show for their efforts.
For the second meeting in succession, only Michael Howarth managed to salvage a finish for the team with 28th in the 16-lap race. The former professional Rugby League player from Todmorden moved forward from 37th on the grid to claim 28th place but for Cody Nally and Joe Dickinson, there was to be no joy at all with the former suffering a nasty looking crash.
Nally, from Athlone, County Westmeath had again looked strong in opening qualifying before being pushed back outside of the top 20 in the final session but he was looking good for some points when he went down heavily on the exit of Sheene Curve on lap nine. It brought the safety car out but, fortunately, he was able to return to the paddock uninjured.
Chesterfield's Dickinson, meanwhile, struggled with the set-up of the Honda Fireblade during qualifying and having never got comfortable with the bike during practice, he and the team agreed that it was best to withdraw from the race on safety grounds.
Speaking afterwards, a disappointed team principal Julia Taylor commented: "It's been a very tough weekend and certainly not how we envisaged finishing the season so I really feel for the whole team. Joe had technical problems with the bike all weekend and simply wasn't happy with the bike so we all felt it was best he sit the race out whilst Cody's back luck continued. He was riding really well and on the fringe of the points and whilst I can't fault his effort, he got caught out and down he went although, most important of all, we're all thankful he's ok.
"It was left to Howie to again give us our only finish and he did a great job once more. He progressed throughout the weekend and again lapped quicker in the race than he had done in qualifying so if the practice sessions were a little bit longer, I'm sure he'd be able to come into the races in a much stronger position. We've certainly had our fair share of bad luck this year and it seems to have followed us around from circuit to circuit but we're determined to come back stronger and that's exactly the plan for 2013."
Metzeler National Superstock 1000cc Championship (16 laps)1 Keith Farmer (Kawasaki)2 PJ Jacobsen (Suzuki)3 Howie Mainwaring (Kawasaki)4 Hudson Kennaugh (Kawasaki)5 Victor Cox (Kawasaki)6 Daniel Johnson (Kawasaki)28 Michael Howarth (CN Racing Honda)DNF Cody Nally (CN Racing Honda)DNS Joe Dickinson (CN Racing Honda)
Final Championship standings (after 13 rounds)1 Farmer 207pts2 O'Halloran 1573 Cox 1424 Storrar 1175 Costello 1146 Mainwaring 105
