Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Ward back in business
Motor cycling
Tom Ward moved up to third place in the Pirelli Superstock 600 Championship series after an excellent weekend at Brands Hatch.
The Littlebourne rider – controversially disqualified after being third at Thruxton in the previous round – put his disappointment behind him to produce a series of consistent rides.
Ward was seventh quickest in free practice, a performance he repeated in first qualifying.
He improved by three places in second qualifying to claim fourth spot on the grid and then finished in that position in the race, helped by the fastest lap of the day when he clocked 1.29.897 on lap two.
Ward said: “It was a fun race, (I made an) absolutely terrible start and made it hard work for myself going back to eighth from fourth on the grid.
“I managed to carve through and had a good battle with Dan Stamper for fourth place.
“Got some clear track and set the fastest lap of the race with those new trick ‘Standard bearings’ which lost me 4hp – proved I can ride a bike after all. Only 0.04 off the lap record!
“Managed to get through to third and looked to be a good battle with Kurt (Wigley) but unfortunately the race was red flagged due to an incident and taken back a lap placing me fourth but I’m still pleased with the result.
“Now moved up to third in the championship which is great, now to keep the ball rolling onto my strongest tracks.
“Really looking forward to Cadwell Park – my favourite track on the calendar.”
Ward now has 78 championship points putting him in third behind series leader Carl Phillips (133) and Brands winner Jordan Weaving, who has 121.
He holds a five- point cushion over Bradley Jones and is six clear of Lewis Rollo.
Wingham’s Ross Twyman experienced a largely frustrating weekend in the Dickies Supersport 600 series.
He crashed in two races out of three, being knocked off on both times, on the second occasion at Clearways corner while riding at high speed.
Twyman was 10th in free practice but slipped to 12th in qualifying leaving him on the fourth row of the grid for race one.
However, his hopes of making progress were hit on the opening lap when Jamie Perrin shunted him from behind at Druids.
His disappointment was there for all to see as he sat on the track for a good minute with his hands in the air. Twyman began race two on the sixth row of the grid, after qualifying in 18th but produced a tremendous ride to plough through the field to sixth.
He had hopes of continuing that momentum in race three but having started in 11th – on the fourth row of the grid – he was taken out at Clearways and did not finish.
Twman now lies 11th in the overall standings. The two racers are next in action at Cadwell Park on August 27-29.