Oulton outing a success for Andrews

4:32pm Wednesday 23rd July 2008

ROUND seven of the Bennetts British Superbike at Oulton Park produced the best results to date for Simon Andrews and the Jentin Racing Lloyds British Superbike Team.

Having qualified in sixth place and on the second row of the grid on the Yamaha R1, Andrews' expectations were running high for both of Sunday's races.

In the first race, Evesham-based Andrews found himself in a lowly seventh place with a six-second gap between himself and Michael Rutter.

During lap nine, unfortunately Karl Harris took another tumble and Cal Crutchlow made an error which dropped the factory rider behind Rutter and eventually behind Andrews, who had enough surplus time to finish in fifth place, his best finish of the season.

The second race produced one of Andrews' most exciting rides of the year. On the start of lap two and heading towards the first bend, it was a test on nerves between Andrews and Rutter with both running hot into the breaking points for the first bend.

The Evesham rider said: "I was alongside Michael Rutter when he released his breaks.

"I did the same and ran into the first bend about 10 miles-an-hour faster than intended and slipped over the rumble strips and onto the grass dropping me back to 11th place.

"I settled myself and soon found my rhythm and worked back through the other riders overtaking Harris on lap 11 and Laverty on lap 12.

"Ellison was in fifth place and I had lost too much time at this point and had to settle for sixth place.

"As ever, the Jentin team did a tremendous job again producing very competitive bikes for me to race."

n Oulton Park was also the race venue for another local man - Evesham-born racer Michael Elliott.

Despite a four-week break in the National Superstock Championship building up to round seven, it has been a busy time for Elliott and his partner Kim with the arrival of their first child, Liam George.

With the cancellation of the last round at Donington Park due to high winds, Elliott competed in two races with top-30 finishes in both.

Oulton Park tests rider and machine to the limit with fast straights, tight chicanes, and banked corners at the 2.6-mile Cheshire circuit.

Last season, the C&D Autos-backed Rider competed on a Suzuki GSX-R1000 but decided this year to switch to a Yamaha R1, which proved to be a good decision as Elliott improved his lap times by over three seconds.

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