CAME BPT Monster Yamaha - British Supersport Cadwell Park - Round 8

The CAME BPT Yamaha team had a varied weekend at round eight of the Dickies British Supersport Championship at Cadwell Park. James Westmoreland is still in a good fight for the overall title, and now leads the series again by three points. He gained a fifth and third place respectively in the two races. His team-mate Joe Francis, suffered with bad arm-pump over the weekend and was 11^th in race one and unfortunately crashed out of race two.

 

Westy, only lives a stones-throw from Cadwell Park and was eager to get two strong results in front of his friends and family who had come to support him. The practice sessions were really strong and he was instantly on the pace finishing in second and first. He was feeling happy going into qualifying and ended up in third on the front row for race one.

 

He got a good start and held his place after the opening lap and was fighting for a podium position. However, on lap five he ran on at the chicane and dropped back to fifth. Despite some good times he was unable to make up the time he lost and had to take fifth.

 

For race two he started from fifth place on the grid, he held this position for the first few laps of the race. Westy had to take massive evasive action to miss the crashed Luke Jones and Andrew Irwin and he did well to not get involved. Once he regained his momentum he made a pass on Ben Currie for fourth and was soon hunting down Andy Reid for third. Reid went straight on at turn one and allowed Westy to move up to third place. The leaders had bridged too much of a gap to catch but he was happy to take a third place and regain the Championship lead by three points as they head to Oulton.

 

Joe Francis looked like it was going to be a strong weekend for him also, he was quick during the practice sessions and again in qualifying where he ended up in fourth place on the grid for race one. He got a poor start and was boxed into turn one so lost several places after the opening lap and was down in seventh. He was working hard but he started to suffer with arm-pump in the early stages of the race and had to nurse the bike home in 11^th.

 

For race two he started from sixth, again he was not able to get a good start and was 11^th after lap one. He had a lot of work to do but was soon making some progress through the pack and was up to ninth when he lost the front at the chicane and crashed out. He is now in ninth place in the Championship standings.

 

James Westmoreland - "It has been a tough weekend but I am happy to have ended it with a podium. I've honestly struggled to get the perfect feeling here with the front end of the bike; the CAME BPT Yamaha team worked so hard to get it sorted for me and make it as comfortable as possible.

 

It was good to get the podium in the second race and I can't thank the team enough for all their efforts this weekend to help me achieve that. It was certainly not a straight forward race so I will take the results and move on to Oulton. There are still eight races to go and it is important that I remain focussed and continue to get points in the remaining eight races and obviously more podiums and wins."

 

Joe Francis - "It has been a tough weekend, I had good pace in all the practice sessions and I managed to qualify in fourth which I was pleased with. In the Sprint race I got boxed in at the start which put me back a bit, I managed to get my head down and work my way through the pack.

 

On lap four I got severe arm-pump which lasted for the rest of the race and I was struggling to hold onto the bars. I could do nothing but just try and bring the bike home in the points.

 

The main race was tough, I started from sixth and made a good start but then I lost touch with the leaders when two riders crashed out and I had to avoid them, which meant the front group got away. I tried to close the gap but unfortunately I made a mistake and lost the front and crashed out.

 

I would just like to say thank you to all the CAME BPT Yamaha team for all their hard work over the weekend and I can't wait to get back to Oulton Park in a couple of weeks' time."

 

Grant Bunting - Team Manager - "It was certainly a mixed weekend for us here at Cadwell. Westy was struggling with a set-up but he was still putting in good times during practice and qualifying. The team worked really hard to provide him with a bike he felt happy with, come the races. He worked hard in both races, despite a mistake in race one he got two lots of solid points, including a podium which has put us back at the top of the Championship standings.

 

Joe was struggling all weekend, he has suffered with arm pump in the past and the track at Cadwell is so demanding that it flared up again this weekend but more so in the races. He made the best of a bad situation, he managed to get some points in the first race and made a small mistake in race two which saw him crash out.

 

I know the riders will be looking forward to moving away from here and getting to Oulton Park, where they are both comfortable."