BUILDBASE SUZUKI SET FOR BRANDS HATCH BSB

2018-07-22 09:14
The Buildbase Suzuki team is ready to relaunch its championship challenges this weekend at Brands Hatch, as the Bennetts British Superbike Championship heads to the famous Kent circuit four round six of the series.

Ahead of the second visit to Brands this season – this time with racing taking place on the iconic Grand Prix layout – confidence in the Buildbase Suzuki camp remains high, despite some bad luck last time out at Knockhill in Scotland when a stone through the radiator curtailed Bradley Ray’s challenge at the front of race two, while Billy McConnell crashed out of the second Superstock 1000 race after finishing on the podium in race one.

However, with three chances to score championship points this weekend for the stock class, McConnell is hoping to reclaim the championship lead. In the Superbike class, Ray, who led most of the first race the when the championship visited Brands earlier in the season, will be looking to get himself back into race-winning contention and add more podium credits to his current tally following his recent test in Japan ahead of the Suzuka 8-Hour race at the end of the month, while Richard Cooper – who led early in race two at Brands in April – is looking to get in amongst the leading group at a circuit where he has been on the Superbike podium before.

Bradley Ray:

“I’m really excited to get back to Brands. I enjoy riding there and we were strong there earlier in the year, and the bike’s only improved since then. We were a bit unlucky at the last round. I don’t think we had the pace in race one, but we were looking stronger in race two, but it was something outside of our control that ended our race. So the aim now is to come back strongly this weekend, and really get ourselves back fighting for wins and coming away with the important podium credits.”

Richard Cooper:

“I’m hoping for another good weekend. The start to the year was a little difficult but as a team we’ve made really good progress with my bike and my setup and I’m happy with where we’re at; BSB’s so competitive and we’ve had some strong results in the last couple of rounds, and our pace was good at Knockhill. We still do need to work on qualifying, as when we’re fast in practice it doesn’t quite come together when it counts, but we’re trying hard. Most of my superbike podiums have come at Brands Hatch, so it’d be ideal if we can add to it them but realistically we are focussing on narrowing that gap to the very front.”

Billy McConnell:

“The target for us is to get back that championship lead, and luckily we’ve got a couple of opportunities to get some solid points on the board. We won here earlier in the year, so we know the bike works good and I’m feeling good on it. At Knockhill it was my mistake that cost us a finish and championship points, so I want to rectify that this weekend. We’ll hopefully start strong in practice and realistically the goal has got to be more wins this weekend.”

Source: Team Suzuki Press Office

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