Ian Hutchinson signalled his intentions in this year’s Pirelli National Superstock 1000cc title hunt after taking a convincing seven second win for Tyco BMW at Snetterton on Sunday. The win moves Hutchinson into second place in the championship standings, just 11 points behind the series leader.
The victory continues the 14 time Isle of Man TT winner’s tremendous win streak on the Superstock specification S1000RR: having now taken wins at the North West 200, Isle of Man TT and this current victory, which also continues his current one hundred percent podium record in British championship in 2016.
After a torrid weekend of frustration and bad luck, Michael Laverty took a well-deserved third place for Tyco BMW in the second British Superbike race at Snetterton. His team-mate Christian Iddon posted a fighting sixth place despite nursing a badly injured finger all weekend, that requires surgery on Monday morning.
The team’s second Superstock 1000cc rider Josh Elliott was unfortunate to receive a penalty after a lap one incident in today’s race which saw fellow BMW rider Taylor Mackenzie crash out.
Ian Hutchinson – 1st [Superstock 1000]: “I think this has been coming for a while as we’ve been having some great results in British championship this season. At the start of the season I was unsure what to expect from it, so the first round I wanted to do well but maybe didn’t try quite hard enough. At Oulton we had 50/50 conditions and have had a few weird races since, even though we were on podiums. I’m really happy to be back fighting at the front for podiums, both on the circuits and the roads. It’s been awesome and to win here at a circuit I’ve only ever ridden once with the new layout is really pleasing. I love riding the S1000RR and we’ve won North West, TT and British Superstock races on it now. It’s a case of continuing to progress and keep this run going.”
Michael Laverty – DNF & 3rd [BSB]: “It’s great to stand on the podium again after what was an incredibly tough weekend. I wouldn’t consider myself as a crasher, but I was on the deck three times at Snetterton. Losing the data from race one hurt us when it came to a tyre choice for race two. So considering the guys in front of me had the softer tyre option, I feel we did a great job on the Tyco BMW to finish third. We have not been lacking pace at any time this year, but we have definitely lacked some luck. Hopefully that is behind us now and we can rebuild our championship challenge from here. Thanks once again to the great team I have around me. They rebuilt my S1000RR like new again over the weekend; several times!”
Christian Iddon 19th & 6th [BSB]: “Overall despite the results I’m happy with the weekend, as I was worried how my finger injury might affect me. We kept it pretty quiet, but it was basically amputated from the last knuckle down and I had it sewn up just to get through the weekend. The team went above and beyond to accommodate my injury and we got through to Superpole three. In race one everything went wrong, but race two was much better. To come through from fourteenth on the grid to finish sixth is a strong result and I’m really looking forward to Thruxton after getting back to full health.”
Josh Elliott – 16th* [Superstock 1000]: “I am truly gutted about Snetterton. I genuinely hit a false neutral and tried my best to recover. In doing so the bike flicked sideways and unfortunately made contact with Taylor, causing him to go down. I apologised to him in pit lane afterwards. I’m disappointed that the Stewards penalised me all of my points, so I have appealed the punishment and it will be heard at Thruxton in two weeks. Thanks to the team and everyone for such great support. I just want to put this behind me now and get on with the racing.”
*11 position penalty
Philip Neill – Team Manager: “After a difficult weekend we are delighted to leave Snetterton with a win in Superstock and a podium in Superbike. To help Hutchy achieve his first British championship win since 2009, after his long recovery from injury, is very satisfying for everyone involved with Tyco BMW. We now can’t wait to see what he can achieve during the second part of the season.
Josh had an unfortunate coming together at turn two on lap one, and after making a respectable come back to fifth it was extremely disappointing to receive a harsh penalty as a result of the incident. As a team we were sorry to see fellow BMW rider Taylor Mackenzie crash as a result of the incident.
We found some challenges in the Superbike class this weekend and it’s fair to say luck wasn’t on our side. With this in mind it was extremely pleasing for our team and both riders, to turn things around and leave with some solid results in race two.
We made some set up changes for race two, which would have helped both riders towards the end of the race: both Michael and Christian were gathering momentum when the race was unfortunately cut short. Christian in particular deserves special credit this weekend, riding with an almost severed finger from an accident only two days prior to Snetterton.”
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