Motourage

Sylvain Guintoli finished yesterday’s British Superbike races at Silverstone with 7th and 8th place results. The Worx Crescent Suzuki star made a terrific start to the day with the fourth-fastest time in the morning warm-up, but in the races, despite respectable lap times, Guintoli struggled to make the results he sought.

Worx Crescent Suzuki's Sylvain Guintoli

Sylvain Guintoli “The first race wasn’t so bad, I definitely had the pace to be running top-five. I enjoyed racing with Tommy Hill and John Laverty, and I was lining up to make a pass on Hill when – I can’t believe this – a large bug splattered my visor in one of the turns, totally obscuring my vision. By the time I had the tear-off sorted, instead of passing Tommy, I’d been passed by John. So that was 7th instead of 5th.  In that second race, I lost too much time at the start. There was some contact in the first turn and that dropped me right down. But no excuses – make a good start and these thing don’t happen to you. I’m quite frustrated as it’s not all coming together as it should. I need to make good starts and I need to get on the pace a lot quicker – these are not endurance races.”

Jack Valentine, team manager
“There’s not too much to say about today. We’ve been conscious of not pressuring Sylvain and allowing him to get his feel back for racing. He has a few issues to sort through, and the job for us now is to work on these.  We’re off to Oulton Park for the final round of the championship and there Sylvain at last has previous experience of the track – and it’s a track where he’s tasted success. With two podium finishes there we’ve also good data to work from, so we expect to be in a much stronger position to help him back to the form which we know he’s capable of.”

MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship in association with Pirelli, Silverstone
Race one results:
1. Leon Camier (Airwaves Yamaha)
2. James Ellison (Airwaves Yamaha) 0.244s
3. James Brookes (HM Plant Honda) 8.837s
4. Stuart Easton (Hydrex Honda) 9.164s
5. Tommy Hill (Hydrex Honda) 18.278s
6. John Laverty (Buildbase Kawasaki) 18.787s
7. Sylvain Guintoli (Worx Crescent Suzuki) 18.33s
8. Ian Lowry (Relentless Suzuki by TAS) 22.408s
9. Simon Andrews (MSS Colchester Kawasaki) 22.921s
10. Julien Da Costa (MSS Colchester Kawasaki) 24.682s

Race two result:
1. James Ellison (Airwaves Yamaha)
2. Leon Camier (Airwaves Yamaha) 1.200s
3. Josh Brookes (HM Plant Honda) 3.783s
4. Stuart Easton (Hydrex Honda) 3.974s
5. Tommy Hill (Hydrex Honda) 9.774s
6. Julien Da Costa (MSS Colchester Kawasaki) 11.099s
7. Simon Andrews (MSS Colchester Kawasaki) 14.340s
8. Sylvain Guintoli (Worx Crescent Suzuki) 16.148s
9. Ian Lowry (Relentless Suzuki by TAS) 21.434s
10. Alastair Seeley (Relentless Suzuki by TAS Evo) 23.963s

Sylvain Guintoli

Two weeks on from his return to BSB action, Worx Crescent Suzuki’s Sylvain Guintoli is looking forward to another round of challenges at the tenth round of the British Superbike Championship – Croft – this weekend.

Guintoli has never ridden the Croft circuit before, so he faces yet another steep learning curve if he’s to be on the pace come Sunday’s races. As well, he faces increased competition this weekend as Josh Brooks returns to the grid joined by former BSB champion Ryuichi Kiyonari (on a break from WSBK duties). Swelling the grid further is Guintoli’s former stand-in, Tommy Hill.

Sylvain Guintoli: “I’ve been doing my usual preparation of watching DVDs to get an idea of how the circuit goes, and I’ve even been looking at the team’s data from last year. I understand it’s another ex-World War II airfield circuit, so it’s flatter and maybe less technical than Cadwell Park.  I was pretty sore after Cadwell Park and I definitely made a mistake by not icing my leg and knee after each ride, but it was important for me to get back into the rhythm of racing and for my leg to get used to the stresses and strains again. I think Cadwell was certainly the greatest test for it, everything from here on should be easier, physically at least. It’s going to be an exciting weekend this weekend, with Kiyo, Brooks and Tommy Hill added to the starting grid it can only be good for the competition, good for the championship.”

Jack Valentine, team manager: “We always look forward to coming to Croft; it’s a circuit I personally like and it should suit the Suzuki well. We’ll have another one of those weekend’s, though, where Sylvain needs to learn the track and we make a gradual build up. And this weekend he faces probably the strongest field we’ve seen in the championship this year. With the weather forecast looking good it should an exciting weekend.”