THE QUARTET of riders from Evesham-based Jones Dorling Racing experienced differing fortunes at Brands Hatch in round four of the Superstock support series in the British Superbike Championship.
The two Yamaha 600 riders – Cameron Fraser and Ewan Potter – both finished in the top 15 in practice but knowing they had lots to improve for Saturday’s qualifying.
Unfortunately, Jordan Weaving’s outing on the Suzuki 1,000 was cut short as he crashed out in a freak incident on the out lap, dislocating his shoulder, which ruled him out of the rest of the meeting.
Ben Godfrey on the other 1,000 bike finished 12th fastest, meaning the team crew had to improve the bike ready for the next day’s qualifying and the back-to-back races if he was to be a strong contender.
Godfrey had a great qualifying session, securing a row two grid position in sixth for later that day. Potter struggled with set-up, but improved his previous lap time qualifying in 22nd, with Fraser knocking a second off his lap time to qualify ninth.
The first race of the weekend was the 32-lap, two-part race for the Superstock 1,000s, with Godfrey losing places and dropping into ninth by the second lap, but he fought his way back up to cross the line in seventh.
With a seamless pit stop to refuel by the crew, he quickly moved up into the second leading pack of bikes and by lap ten had battled his way into sixth and then to fourth on lap 12.
He showed great skill in maintaining his position while the race lead changed several times, but on the penultimate lap he dropped back down to sixth.
Determined to regain his place, he battled back on the last lap, equalling his personal best finish and crossing the line in fourth, narrowly missing out on a podium but securing valuable championship points.
Fraser and Potter, starting from P9 and P22 respectively, had a challenging race as the weather dramatically changed with torrential rain from the start which worsened throughout the 14-lap race.
Potter had built his confidence in the dry but, with the difficult wet conditions in which several riders fell, he crossed the line in 18th.
Fraser lost some places and was 14th by lap four but still continued to push throughout and finished 12th to maintain sixth place in the championship.
The team are at Knockhill in Scotland for the next round this weekend. Follow the team’s progress at www.jonesdorlingracing.co.uk.
