SUZUKI’S McCONNELL TAKES OULTON PARK VICTORY

Billy McConnell – SST – 1-7
Bradley Ray – BSB – 11-DNF
Richard Cooper – BSB – 13-DNF

Billy McConnell raced his Buildbase Suzuki GSX-R1000 to victory at Oulton Park this weekend, winning the first of the two National Superstock 1000 Championship races.

McConnell set pole in qualifying and won race one in dry conditions, despite the threat of rain ever-present over the weekend.

Rain fell on Sunday, but McConnell was again at the sharp end of the field in a wet race two, battling to make it a double victory. He was in podium contention until the closing stages when he ran wide at Lodge and had to take a trip through the gravel, re-joining in seventh place and he held the position to the chequered flag.

Billy McConnell:

“The weekend started really well for us. The bike was working well, we got dialled-in quickly and were fast from the off, and qualifying on Pole gave us a lot of confidence for the races. The pack was quite close at the front, but we managed to grab the win by half a second or so in race one and it set us up well for race two. It was obviously wet the second time out, but we were up there again and in the mix. I definitely think we could have had a podium if not the win, but I made a little mistake and it’s cost us another good result. We’re behind Keith [Farmer] in the championship but it’ll be all to play for at Brands Hatch. We’ll go there and try to win and see how it plays out.”

With no Superstock 1000 action at the next Bennetts British Superbike Championship round at Assen, McConnell and the Buildbase Suzuki team will race at the final round at Brands Hatch on October 12-14th in a bid to claim this year’s title.

IN BSB, Both Showdown contender Bradley Ray (currently fifth in the points) and Richard Cooper (15th in points), suffered a bad day on track: Ray finished 11th in the opening race and Cooper 13th. Both riders failed to finish race two.