Talented teenager Ben Stafford continued his fine progress in the Pirelli National 600 Superstock Championship with a strong showing at Oulton Park.
The Saracen’s Head pace ace guided his Silicone Engineering machine to a battling 15th at his first-ever outing at the Cheshire track – hot on the heels of his impressive ninth at Thruxton a week earlier.
Qualifying session one saw Stafford competing on a dry track on the first day of action on Friday afternoon.
After getting to know the track, he finished in a respectable 20th position.
In Saturday morning’s Q2 the team made some minor changes to the machine, allowing Stafford to perform even better.
He dropped his lap times from the previous day – and end result was that he would start the race in an improved 18th position on the grid, which represented his best qualifying position to date.
With the weather for Sunday forecast as torrential rain due to the tail end of the hurricane passing over Britain, the 600 race was moved to late in the day on Saturday at 5.15pm.
Stafford made a good start from the inside grid and headed into Old Hall corner having made up some five places from the line.
However, he was soon shut out and reduced back to 18th position.
Some neat manoeuvres through the race got him into 15th place, but he overshot at Hislop Chicane and had do it all again.
It was no bother for the South Holland lad though, as he successfuly regained all of the lost positions by the time the chequered flag dropped and the 12 laps completed.
The race was won by Pacedayz Yamaha’s Kyle Ryde, making it three wins on the trot for him.
Be Wiser Kawasaki duo of Joe Collier and Nick Anderson made up the top three.
Stafford’s dad Andy said: “Ben had struggled to get a set-up to suit him all weekend, but again this is early days for him and 15th position does not come easily with the talent in this group.
“In reflection the team are very happy with the progress although Ben was a little frustrated with his performance.
“I’m not sure why, though.”
The next outing for Stafford is round eight at Cadwell Park from August 23-25.
It is the most local track for the young racer – and hopefully, with the support of his family and friends at the track, he can look towards a slightly better result.
