Team Traction Control completed a mixed weekend at the fifth round of the Motorpoint British Supersport and Pirelli National Superstock 600 Championships at Knockhill, with James Ellison Rispoli and Joe Francis adding to their points tally. Andy Reid meanwhile was forced to watch from the sidelines through injury.
Rispoli was eager to fly the flag for Team Traction Control after Reid withdrew from the event as his fractured heel bone caused him too much pain to continue the weekend. He now hopes to be strong enough to return at Brands Hatch. Rispoli meanwhile showed typical determination to score a fifth and sixth place after two hard-fought races in Scotland to elevate himself up the standings.
In the Pirelli National Superstock 600 Championship Joe Francis was eager to return to the podium, but after losing track time due to the heavy rain, which cancelled qualifying and the experiencing a problem in warm up, he was happy to score strong points in fifth place.
Rispoli said: “The weekend went well aside from the results. We stayed up, raced consistently and earned valuable points. We also managed to move up another two spots in the championship standings. Our goal is to stay consistent, our moral and motivation is high now that I’m starting to come into my stride and we have some momentum.”
Reid said: “I was really disappointed not to make it out on Saturday and Sunday, but we have to look at the bigger picture. I did Friday’s free practice and we weren’t too far off the pole position time, but knew myself I was losing so much time through not being 100 percent fit. The team and myself weighed up the options and the risks and decided to hold off for two weeks and go to Brands Hatch probably at around 90% fit. Another two weeks will make a big difference in terms of how I feel on the bike. I just want to thank everyone for all the support!”
Francis said: “After free practice we felt good and I felt we could build a good pace for the race and hoped it would stay dry. We couldn’t improve our time as we lost the session due to the rain, which was disappointing as I felt we could have found more. I missed most of morning warm up with a technical problem and then it took me some time to find my rhythm. I was closing in for the podium but when it started to rain I had a few moments and that dropped me down the order again. It is important to score points and not make mistakes and score nothing.”
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