Kiwi riders Damon Rees and Shane Richardson cracked the top ten in the latest British Superstock 1000 round over the weekend at Snetterton.
Starting a season-best eighth, Rees was lightning on lap one and was up to fourth as the field began its second tour.
The Ashcourt Racing rider settled into his rhythm at the pointy end of the pack.
However, his BMW S1000rr began to suffer from relentless front-end chatter. Despite changing the way he rode, Rees couldn’t ease the problem.
Still, Rees stayed mainly in touch with the front runners and crossed the line in seventh and only 0.7s behind P5.
“Super proud of what we achieved this weekend,” Rees said. “Let’s keep the momentum.”
Richardson qualified one spot behind his Kiwi compatriot and made steady ground to run in eighth in the race’s early stages.
Though he too had tyre trouble as his Astro JJR Racing BMW battled with a lack of a rear-end grip.
Richardson eventually finished tenth; his second P10 finish in a row this season.
“I wasn’t able to hang on to the group in front of me and did my best to not go backward,” he said.
“Happy to get a decent result still but also motivated to work harder to be able to put on more of a charge to stick with the boys ahead of me.”
The pair head to Silverstone next weekend for a pair of races around the shorter National circuit layout.
Cormac Buchanan was also racing over the weekend.
The Invercargill teenager was in the British Honda Talent Cup series and kicked off his weekend with a flourish, qualifying on the second row.
Unfortunately, Buchanan crashed out early in the weekend’s first race. A brand-new rear tyre slipped away from him on lap two.
Without setting a competitive lap, Buchanan started tenth for race two.
He managed to work his around past a handful of riders but soon found himself too far behind the leading peloton.
Slipstream is everything, and Buchanan was left to his devices, and with no one in front of him, he took the chequered flag in seventh.
He sits ninth in the championship standings but will miss next weekend’s round as he heads to Aragon in Spain for the Red Bull Rookies Cup finale.
Main Image: Michael Wincott
