Round four of the British National Superstock 1000 Championship headed to Oulton Park Circuit, September 19-20, with Kiwi hero Damon Rees hoping for another great result.
Prior to the race weekend, Whakatane’s Rees had only attended a track day at Oulton Park, which took place in wet conditions.
Rees commented: “Going into the round, I knew where I was going, but that’s about it!”
Free practice one took place in ideal conditions and got off to a frantic start with all riders taking to the track. Rees completed 13 laps in total, setting a lap time of 1.41.265, finishing the session in 22nd position.
Free practice two saw Rees complete a total of 13 laps and, with improved dry track time knowledge, Rees set a time of 1.40.558 an improvement of 0.677 from the morning session. Rees ended free practice two in 25th position, 3.345 second off the fastest lap set by Chrissy Rouse.
Qualifying was held under clear skies with Rees setting his fastest lap of 1.39.025 on his eighth circulation an improvement of 1.5 seconds on his Free Practice Two time. Rees started race one from 17th position on the grid alongside championship leader Tom Neave in 16th.
Pole position went go to Rouse, who managed to bag his first pole of the season with a time of 1.37.015.
Race one got off to a quick start with Rouse grabbing the holeshot, ahead of Rollo and Kent, by the end of the opening lap Rees had managed to hold on to his starting position and was following TT race winner Dean Harrison. Lap three saw Harrison crash out, promoting Rees to 16th position.
By lap seven Rees was in a four-way battle for 15th with Luke Jones, Davey Todd and Luke Hopkins. Lewis Rollo took the win by 4.8 seconds and claim his first victory in the British Superstock 1000 Championship. After a tough race Rees finished in 17th position, just 0.222 behind 16th place finisher Todd.
Race two took place Sunday afternoon over 14 laps with the grid being determined by the riders fastest lap in Saturday’s race which would see Rees starting from 19th position.
Rees managed to get a good start managing to move up one position to 18th off the line. By time they had completed the opening lap, Rees had managed to pass four more riders and was now in a points scoring position in 14th. At the end of lap three Rees was on the move, moving up to 13th position just 0.700 seconds behind Ian Hutchinson in 12th. As the race reached its midpoint
Rees had dropped back to 14th position and was in a three way battle for 13th. A crash for Danny Kent, as well as passing David Allingham on lap seven saw Rees move up to 12th. By the start of the penultimate lap Rees had passed Luke Jones for 11th, which he would hold till the finish.
After a challenging weekend Rees is remaining positive and upbeat about his first season racing in the UK saying: “The season had gotten off to a far better start than I think anyone expected, I was pretty disheartened by my Qualifying and Race 1 results. But, I’m a fighter and always want to improve so I chose not to give up and took what I can from it … and I had to remind myself that I’m a rookie, racing at a track I had never raced at before!”
After four rounds, Rees is in 6th position in the National British Superstock 1000 Championship sitting on 71pts, just 18pts behind 3rd position. After having a fantastic round at Oulton Park, Rouse emerged the new British National Superstock 1000 Championship leader on 141pts.
Round Five of the British Superstock 1000 Championship will return to Donington Park, where Rees was successful earlier in the year, over the weekend of September 3-4.
Words By Michael Wincott
Photo supplied
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