The Be Wiser Kawasaki team had another good weekend at round two of the MCE British Superbike Championship at the stunning Oulton Park circuit. In front of a massive crowd Joe Collier in the Superstock 600 class secured his second podium of the season with second place and his team-mate Nick Anderson in a strong sixth place finish. Josh Day was unlucky to crash out on the opening lap of the Superstock 1000 Championship race.
In the Pirelli National Superstock 1000 class Josh Day had a short race when he was caught up in an incident in the opening lap. With 40 riders battling for the same piece of tarmac Josh was pushed wide and ended up on the grass and crashed out, unfortunately his bike collected Luke Quigley as it crossed the track putting an end to the race for the pair.
Josh Day - "It's really annoying to have crashed out of the race as all weekend my times had been improving and after morning warm up I was really ready for it. It's always a problem when you are mid pack in a race like that, as it's always a little messy on the first lap, everyone was trying to go for the same bit of tarmac and I got forced onto the grass. The bike went from under me and that was that, sorry to Luke for collecting him in the process. Up to that point everything was going really well and I was feeling confident for a strong top ten place but it just wasn't meant to be this weekend so I will just ensure we are ready for Snetterton in June."
In the Pirelli National Superstock 600 Championship Joe Collier once again showed his true fighting spirit and took his second podium in two races, this time moving one forward into second place. The youngster from Coalville worked hard all weekend and secured second place on the grid during the qualifying session. He struggled off the start and got boxed into the first corner leaving him with a considerable amount of work to do to move back towards the front. He made some strong passes but the leader had already bridged a gap and he was unable to catch up, he is now lying in third place in the Championship standings.
His team-mate Nick Anderson also rode a fantastic race and was locked in a very close battle throughout the race to bring the Be Wiser Kawasaki home in a very creditable sixth position. Nick was fortunate to avoid a serious incident when a rider just in front of him had a bike issue and stopped instantly, Nick's quick actions and thinking avoided what could have been a huge crash. There was a lot of damage on his Be Wiser Kawasaki when he entered parc ferme after the race, he re composed himself and held off five riders behind to gain a great result for the team.
Joe Collier - "It's been another really good weekend with the Be Wiser team and another solid podium. Oulton is one of my favourite tracks and I really wanted to get a good result here, we had a good set up from the test the week before so it made things easier heading into first practice. I got a really bad start in the race and was totally boxed into the first corner which pushed me back several places. I worked my way through but Andy (Reid) was already long gone and it was going to be too hard to catch him. I want to keep getting consistent results like this all season; I'm looking forward to racing at the World Superbike race at Donington in a few weeks."
Nick Anderson - "I'm very happy to worked my way up through the pack and to get a decent race result. I had to be super aggressive as I knew I had a freight train of riders behind me. I managed to avoid a huge accident when one rider's bike cut out in front of me and I had think fast to miss him, I clipped him but managed to stay on thankfully."
Team Owner/Manager Alan Greig - "It was good for the team to come to Oulton Park last week for the test, despite the mixed weather conditions the riders were able to get a good base set up.
Once again all three riders improved in every session and there were big improvements from Brands during the qualifying sessions.
We were looking forward to Josh Day's race as in warm up he showed strong potential for a good race, he got a good start but sadly everyone was fighting for the same piece of tarmac on the opening lap and Josh paid the price and crashed out. It is a shame as he'd got faster all weekend and we are sure he would have gained a top ten finish.
In the Stock 600 class Joe got a bad start and was blocked into turn one, he had to settle down into a rhythm and build up his pace. He made huge progress but by the time he made it through to second place the leader had already bridged a large gap, he rode really well and hard to secure second place and another podium for the Be Wiser Kawasaki team.
Nick rode one of the best races we've seen him race, he struggled a little in qualifying to get a good grid position but he worked endlessly to secure a fantastic sixth position. He did well to avoid a crash despite colliding with the rider that stopped and we realised afterwards that Nick's bike took a big impact as the fairings were broken; he composed himself well and fought off the herd of riders behind him.
I am really pleased with the progress made this weekend at Oulton and hope this will continue as we move on to the remaining rounds of the season."
