Increased Advantage For Smiths Triumph At Cadwell Park

The Gloucester-based Smiths Triumph team increased their advantage in the 2014 Motorpoint British Supersport Championship at Cadwell Park this bank holiday weekend with both Billy McConnell and team-mate Graeme Gowland taking two podiums each in the two races, including a stunning 1-2 in the opening encounter.

Billy and Graeme lined up in second and third and on the front row for Sunday's 12-lap 'Sprint' race and it turned out to be a four-way fight for the win between the duo and fellow Triumph riders Luke Stapleford and Luke Mossey. Positions changed hands all the way through but in the final three laps it came down to a straight fight between Aussie McConnell and Northumberland rider Gowland. They continued to swap places and crossed the line almost together as the transponders showed Gowland had won. However, the decision ultimately went to a photo finish and Adelaide's McConnell was given the win by just 0.001 seconds, the closest finish in British Supersport history.

Both riders were on the front row for today's 'Feature' race although poor weather conditions meant it was cut to 14 laps. Main title rival Alastair Seeley was one of many riders to fall foul of the conditions but both McConnell, who had to have his clutch repaired just minutes before the race got underway, and Hexham rider Gowland put in two faultless rides to bring the factory-supported Triumph Daytona 675 home in second and third places respectively.

The weekend's results have seen McConnell move to the top of the Championship table with a lead of eight points over Gowland whilst Seeley is now a further 38 points adrift.

Billy McConnell: "Graeme and I have a great relationship both on and off the track and every move in Sunday's race was clean and sharp. I kept making silly little mistakes here and there but then managed to get past Luke and it all came down to the run to the line. I had no idea if I'd won or not and had to ask the marshals on the slow down lap to find out and was over the moon when I found out I'd got it. Today's race was a whole different challenge and after struggling in the wet at Oulton Park, we worked hard with the set-up for the race although the clutch problem on the warm up lap gave us a bit of a scare. We had enough time to get it fixed and it's funny how things work out as the conditions worked in our favour today."

Graeme Gowland: "It was an awesome race on Sunday, clean racing and obviously really good for the team. We went over the line together at the same time and I thought I'd got the win but Billy got the verdict and I had to try all over again on Monday. The rain changed everything for everyone though and the conditions were really tricky. We haven't had a race like that in a long time and I was delighted with the podium and to be able to limit the losses to Billy."

Rebecca Smith: "We're thrilled to come away from Cadwell Park having scored some well deserved points and competed in some fantastic racing. The boys have a really good relationship and we're happy for them to race wheel to wheel like they did on Sunday as we know they're not going to do anything silly and that race was just fantastic to watch. Monday's race was all about getting as many points as possible and both Billy and Graeme rode sensibly and put in two excellent performances. The Championship is now looking much healthier for us with Alastair having a poor meeting and we look forward to Donington Park now."

Motorpoint British Supersport Championship Race One - 12 laps1 Billy McConnell (Smiths Racing Triumph)2 Graeme Gowland (Smiths Racing Triumph)3 Luke Stapleford (Triumph)4 Glenn Irwin (Kawasaki)5 Luke Jones (Triumph)6 Alastair Seeley (Yamaha)Motorpoint British Supersport Championship Race Two - 14 laps1 Glenn Irwin (Kawasaki)2 Billy McConnell (Smiths Racing Triumph)3 Graeme Gowland (Smiths Racing Triumph)4 Luke Stapleford (Triumph)5 Sam Hornsey (Triumph)6 Dean Hipwell (Triumph)Championship Points (after eight rounds)1 McConnell 272pts2 Gowland 2643 Seeley 2344 Irwin 1965 Jones 1866 Stapleford 181


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