Frustration all round at Ben’s weekend woe

FRUSTRATING: Luckless Ben Wilson (15) toiled at Thruxton. Photo by ADRIAN SMITH
FRUSTRATING: Luckless Ben Wilson (15) toiled at Thruxton. Photo by ADRIAN SMITH

Ben Wilson endured a hugely frustrating weekend at Thruxton as he was forced to pull out of both Superbike races.

The Kirton racer was expecting to have to find a set-up for the Gearlink Kawasaki Superbike as this was its first visit to the Hampshire circuit.

All started relatively well, as Wilson went out in each free practice session and returned to the pits with valuable information.

But the bike became more and more unstable as the weekend went on, resulting in Wilson being unable to record a fast lap time and being placed on the eighth row of the grid for the start of race one on Sunday.

Despite alterations being made to the bike prior to the race, it soon became obvious that he was still having problems and after completing just four laps he retired to the pits.

After discussions with the team owner and manager Michael de Bidaph, it was decided to withdraw Wilson from the second race as there was insufficient time to make further alterations prior to the start.

Wilson said: “The weekend was so frustrating, it didn’t matter what we did with the bike it just didn’t respond.

“I did try to ride it in the first race but it wasn’t happy and tried to throw me off at every opportunity.

“I was going backwards and just about last so the best option was to retire.

“Michael has said that he will have a new frame in place for the next round and we hope to find some improvement when we get to Oulton Park.”

That Oulton meet will take place this weekend (August 8-10).

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