Double British Supersport champions, Smiths Racing, had their penultimate outing of the 2015 season at Silverstone over the weekend with Billy McConnell and Jake Dixon again contesting the MCE Insurance British Superbike and Motorpoint Supersport Championships respectively but it proved to be a tough weekend for the Gloucester-based team.
Having qualified in 13th place for the first of the two 14-lap MCE Superbike races, Australian ace McConnell was inside the points for the entirety, but with the competition so strong, making any major advances forward was difficult and he had to settle for 13th place at the chequered flag for three hard earned championship points.
The 28-year-old reigning British Supersport champion from Adelaide started the second race from the fifth row aboard the Smiths Racing BMW and his decision to run the harder compound tyre looked to have paid dividends as he made great strides forward as the race progressed. By lap five, he was up inside the top ten and had moved up to eighth by half race distance with a higher finish well within his grasp. However, having just set his fastest lap of the race, he crashed out at Club on lap eight.
Meanwhile, team-mate Dixon lined up on the second row of the grid for yesterday's Motorpoint Supersport 'Sprint' race and claimed fourth place aboard the factory-backed Smiths Triumph Daytona 675R in what was a relatively lonely ride, to maintain his third place overall in the standings.
The Dover rider started from fifth on the grid for today's longer 'Feature' race and held onto that position for the opening lap. He progressed to fourth a lap later when new champion Luke Stapleford retired and although there was a brief safety car period, he took full advantage to move up to third soon after. However, just half a lap later his race was over as he crashed out at Brooklands, fortunately without injury, although the DNF relegated him to fourth in the standings.
Billy McConnell: "The weekend started off in the worst possible fashion when I crashed in the first practice session wrecking the bike in the process. The team did a superb job in rebuilding it, but in the first race I struggled, so it was definitely hard work for just three points. We changed the setting on the shock for race two and the bike was loads better and I felt really confident. The grip was good and I was moving forward all the time, but sadly I crashed again so it was frustrating to say the least. The team is naturally down, but we'll try and take away the positives and end the year strongly at Brands Hatch."
Jake Dixon: "It's been a tough weekend and after crashing in the first free practice session, it put me on the back foot a little bit. The team worked really hard to give me a good set-up and we continually chipped away to improve things. I managed a fourth in the first race, but we made further changes for today and having been fastest in morning warm-up, I felt good for the race. Unfortunately, I just trailed a bit too much front brake so it was my fault and I'd like to say sorry to the team. With losing third overall in the standings, it hasn't been a great day and I've plenty of work to do at the final round."
Rebecca Smith, Team Manager: "The weekend started badly with both riders crashing out in free practice so full credit to the team for rebuilding both bikes, especially Billy's, in time for the afternoon's session. After that, the bikes never missed a beat, but we've made a few mistakes this weekend so need to go away and regroup for the final round. It's frustrating not to have come away with some decent results this weekend, but Billy and Jake know what they need to do at Brands Hatch to put things right."
MCE British Superbike Championship race one (14 laps)1 Josh Brookes (Yamaha)2 Shane Byrne (Kawasaki)3 Peter Hickman (BMW)4 John Hopkins (Ducati)5 James Ellison (Kawasaki)6 Michael Laverty (BMW)13 Billy McConnell (Smiths Racing BMW)
MCE British Superbike Championship race two (14 laps)1 Josh Brookes (Yamaha)2 Michael Laverty (BMW)3 Dan Linfoot (Honda)4 Christian Iddon (Suzuki)5 Shane Byrne (Kawasaki)6 Richard Cooper (BMW)DNF Billy McConnell (Smiths Racing BMW)
Championship points (after 11 rounds)1 Brookes 653pts2 Byrne 6063 Ellison 5734 Laverty 5535 Linfoot 5346 Bridewell 53114 McConnell 97
Motorpoint British Supersport Championship race one (10 laps)1 Luke Stapleford (Triumph)2 James Rispoli (Yamaha)3 Glenn Irwin (Kawasaki)4 Jake Dixon (Smiths Racing Triumph)5 Kyle Ryde (Yamaha)6 Sam Hornsey (Triumph)
Motorpoint British Supersport Championship race two (12 laps)1 Glenn Irwin (Kawasaki)2 James Rispoli (Yamaha)3 Sam Hornsey (Triumph)4 Ben Wilson (Kawasaki)5 Kyle Ryde (Yamaha)6 Luke Hedger (Kawasaki)DNF Jake Dixon (Smiths Racing Triumph)
Championship points (after 11 rounds)1 Stapleford 421pts2 Ryde 3203 Irwin 3044 Dixon 2975 Rispoli 2336 Reid/Wilson 165
The final round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship takes place at Brands Hatch over the weekend of October 16/18th.
