Congrats to Damon Rees and Shane Richardson for fine performance in Bennetts British SBK Championship Round 3 at Silverstone this weekend. Racing under Astro JJR Team supported by Carl Cox Motorsport, Damon claimed P4 in Race 1 and P5 in Race 2 cementing 3rd Overall in debut season in Superstock 1000 class.
Out-classing field of riders whose race experience on UK’s iconic circuit goes back many years, Rees proved his talent is real, Qualifying 2nd heading into the weekend’s racing.
Damon: ‘I got off to a decent start, holding my P6 start position for majority of the race. It was feeling good, but the field was riding at an incredible pace, making it very difficult to make passes. Then, in the final laps I made a charge for 5th, I started to get into the groove, and made up almost a second on 4th in the final lap, but it was a little too late and I crossed the finish in P5 
Team-rider Shane Richardson put in solid performance to seal 8th in R1 followed by 13th in R2 having made sure focus was squarely on adapting racing style on board Team’s BMW S1000rr.
Qualifying P9 proved Shane has all experience and race-craft needed to manage step-up in class, all supported by great Team, sponsors and team-rider Rees.
Shane post Race 1: ‘I ran with the lead group for the first little bit before losing touch when Hutchy had a big moment in front of me. From there I tried a little too hard to claw back some time, really wearing my tyre in the process which left me with not a lot left in the tank as the race wore on. I went back a couple positions from P5 to P8 where I eventually finished up.
‘I’m really happy to finally have some points on the board and it was good to see what I have to work on to make the most of the big bike. I still need to work on adapting my style a little more which I will start doing tomorrow. Looking for a strong result starting from P12’.
With New Zealand’s history of racing British SBK Championship dating way back to 2002 when Simon Crafar competed on very same circuit, Kiwi racers Rees and Richardson are certainly putting their names in the nations Motorsport books some 18 years later.
BSB Round 4 Oulton Park, September 18-20th.
Words: Sharon Cox.
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