ASHLEY BEECH declared himself satisfied with a top ten finish in round nine of National Superstock 1000 Championship with Honeybourne-based Jones Dorling Racing.
The Bank Holiday meeting at Cadwell Park in Lincolnshire was only the fourth time the team had raced the new BMW S1000RR.
Cadwell Park is notorious for being a difficult circuit to get the set-up right, with long fast straights like Brands Hatch and tight and twisty sections similar to Snetterton, so a compromise between the two tracks was the target to enable Beech to push his race bike to its limits.
After the last round at Brands Hatch the team completed a successful test at Snetterton.
“We are starting to make good progress now and I feel we have found a solid base setting on the bike,” said team owner Chris Jones.
The first of two qualifying sessions was cancelled when a storm brought thunder, lightning and heavy rain and was rescheduled for the following day.
Beech made steady progress through both qualifying sessions, improving his lap times every time he took to the track as he finished 16th quickest.
He made a good start to the race but was pushed back a few places by the end of the first lap.
However, he quickly started to fight his way through the field until an incident brought out the pace car while debris was cleared from the track.
No overtaking manoeuvres are allowed while the pace car is out which means all the riders start to bunch up.
A group of six riders started to pull away from the rest of the field and Beech was embroiled in a battle behind, but he continued to make progress to eventually cross the line in tenth position.
“I am really happy with tenth place and if I had started a few more places further up the grid I could have been battling with the leading bunch,” he said.
The next round of the championship is at Oulton Park on September 11.
To follow Beech and the team’s progress, visit www.jonesdorlingracing.com, Twitter @JDR_Racing or Facebook by searching JonesDorlingRacing.