Reigning Motorpoint British Supersport Champion Glen Richards gave the Smiths Racing Triumph Team another great top ten finish in a World Supersport Championship race when he took a hard fought tenth place at Donington Park yesterday.
The 39-year-old Australian was having his first wild card appearance of the season in the World Championship and after qualifying in a brilliant third place on the Triumph Daytona 675R, Richards crashed out and was run over by another competitor, sustaining a minor arm injury in the process.
Despite being stiff, he took his place on the grid and was running inside the top eight for the first half of the race. Part of an eight-rider battle for third place, the Adelaide rider was handily placed at mid-race distance only for French rider Florian Marino to push him wide at the Esses and force him onto the grass.
By the time he'd rejoined the track, he was down in 15th place but he fought back to claim tenth place for the Gloucester-based team at the end of the 22 laps, just two seconds adrift of eighth, claiming six World Championship points in the process.
Fellow Australian and team-mate Billy McConnell was also in action and after qualifying in 15th after a crash also, 'Skippy' took a solid 19th place in today's race after a couple of overshoots, gaining valuable track time and making further progress with the development of the all-new Triumph machine.
Glen Richards: "I'm a little bit disappointed with the result as we were in with a podium chance for a while. I had a bit of an issue with the brakes to begin with but once they settled down I felt strong and was right in the mix for third place. Sadly, Marino put in a really poor manoeuvre, basically taking my front wheel away from me so how I didn't hit him I don't know. I had no option but take to the grass but I fought back and got into the top ten so managed to salvage a decent result. The good bit though is that this weekend will kick-start our British Championship challenge as the bike's feeling really good now and I'm feeling really comfortable on it. We've made big inroads, the confidence is back and I'm confident the results will now come."
Billy McConnell: "It's always a great privilege to race in a World Championship round but it's a shame I couldn't get the result the team and all our supporters deserved. It's never easy riding with riders you're not used to dicing with and I made a few mistakes in both qualifying and in the race, running on in a few corners. I had a moment in the first turn when my boot got ripped open and I just struggled to get into a decent rhythm so it was a bit of a scrappy race. We've had plenty of track time though and made big strides forward with the bike so I'm confident when we get to the next British Championship round, we'll reap the rewards."
Rebecca Smith, Team Manager: "It wasn't really the race we'd hoped for after qualifying, particularly for Glen who did brilliantly to place third. We were confident Billy would be able to move forward as well and get both of the bikes inside the top ten but it turned out to be a frustrating race. Our pace has been good all weekend though and we've had good fun, gathered lots of data and pretty much achieved what we wanted. The weather and support from the crowd were both great and all the development work we've been doing with the bike has been seen so we've made excellent progress. It's testament to the whole team's hard work and we're now feeling extremely confident that when we get to the next British Championship round at Knockhill, we'll be back at the front."
World Supersport Championship race (22 laps)1 Sam Lowes (Yamaha)2 Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki)3 Roberto Rolfo (MV Agusta)4 Lorenzo Zanetti (Honda)5 Luca Scassa (Kawasaki)6 Jack Kennedy (Honda)10 Glen Richards (Smiths Racing Triumph)19 Billy McConnell (Smiths Racing Triumph)
