Another great weekend had by all at Wilson Racing with more points gained and riders on form, the mixed conditions of the weekend proved for some great racing. Sullivan walked away with a 1st in race 1 and a 3rd in race 2, Harrison back in the points with a 10th in race 1 and a 5th in race 2 and Ben pushing hard to learn the tricky track coming home with 19th in race 1 and 16th in race 2.
Free practice and qualifying.
Free practice 1 on Friday would see the riders head out on track with favourable dry conditions. This was to be Bens first experience of this fast-flowing track with no previous experience here he would have to learn it quickly. FP1 and all riders eased back into the session after only 4 days off to recover from the previous round at Moto GP, Harrison managed to finish the session strong coming back in 8th, Ben in 22nd ahead of riders who had rode here previously, and Sullivan in 3rd. Free practice 2 would come later that afternoon with riders having had time to talk with the team and have something to eat they were ready and raring to go! As they headed out for the second session of the day the goals were to bring their lap times down and get more comfortable with the fast-flowing track. By the end of the session Harrison managed to cross the line in 10th, Ben in 17th, and Sullivan in 1st.
Saturday morning was to see the riders head out into qualifying. With the weather chopping and changing between damp, drizzle and dry even before heading out riders knew that they would have to quickly put in a good time while the rain held off for a few laps as it wouldn’t be a guaranteed full dry session. After only 3 laps the rain came down again and the riders headed into the pits to wait it out for a few minutes. As the rain went again the riders headed back out to see if they could improve off of their times. By the end of the session the riders came back across the line with Sullivan claiming 2nd, Harrison in 12th, and Ben in 17th.
Race 1.
As the riders prepared for race 1 on Saturday afternoon no one was to know what a thrilling race it would turn out to be. With the riders on the grid, it was time, lights out and away they went! With Sullivan leading into turn 1 Harrison and Ben were battling further back for good positions. As the race continued Sullivan had a hard battle on his hands trying to fend off Evan and Amanuel, eventually he started to pull away until disaster almost struck on lap 7 when he lost the front end with a couple of seconds gap, however he managed to save it and continue the race with Evan and Amanuel now on his tail and fighting hard for 1st. Further back and Harrison was battling in a large group for a finish inside the top 10, getting consistent slipstreams here allowed for him to get the amazing start position he did for race 2. Further back and Ben was also having a similar battle trying to achieve a top 20 finish. As the chequered flag came out it was a drag race to the line out of the final corner with all top 3 riders’ side by side to the line, across the line they went with Sullivan claiming victory by only 0.020 seconds from Amanuel. Harrison managed to cross the line in 10th and Ben followed in 19th. With the times set in race 1 the riders would be lining up on the grid, Sullivan 2nd, Ben 17th, and Harrison I his best ever grid position of 5th!
Warm up and Race 2.
Sunday morning and all 3 riders headed out for morning warm up before race 2. At 14:55 it was lights out once again for race 2 of the weekend. With Sullivan leading down into turn 1 Harrison wasn’t far behind holding his position in 5th, with Ben also following trying to make up positions further down the grid. After some intense battles with the top 4 riders, Ollie, Evan, Amanuel and Sullivan it would all come down to the last lap. With it looking as if Sullivan was going to get 4th the race wasn’t over, and when coming off of the back straight Sullivan took advantage of the 3-rider slipstream and him, Ollie and Amanuel flew past Evan down into the final chicane and he took 3rd. With Harrison following up coming across the line for his best ever finish in 5th, leading the pack of 7 riders across the line. Finally, Ben crossed over in 16th just missing out on a point positioning finish.
Another incredible weekend was had, and once again Wilson Racing would like to thank all of our sponsors that help make racing possible, and to keep helping us achieve our goals of bringing the next generation of world class riders through the ranks and helping them to achieve their dreams.