125cc British Championship Shop4Bikers/Dutch-2-UK Racing rider was forced to retire on the 12th lap.

June 29, 2010 - PRLog -- Weekend to forget at Mallory for Low

Refreshed after the 5-week break and restored to full fitness after the leg injury sustained last time out at Cadwell Park, Simon was eagerly looking forward to the round at Mallory but things started going wrong almost from the off and a cracked cylinder meant he was forced to miss the majority of Friday’s free practice sessions thus meaning he was seriously lacking in track time compared to his rivals.


With qualifying on Saturday, further problems, this time with the ignition, led to him only completing six laps in the first 30-minute session as the bike continually cut out but at least he managed to post a qualifying time and ensure his presence on the grid. However, any hopes of improving his time and moving up the grid were dashed in the second and final 30-minute qualifying session when he failed to complete a lap due to the aforementioned ignition problems having not been rectified.



Having only qualified in 34th place, it was always going to be difficult for Simon around the short 1.41-mile circuit and with his confidence dented it proved to be a hard race. The little Honda was still proving troublesome, some 15mph down through the speed traps, and although Simon battled manfully in the opening few laps to move up a few places, the lack of performance from the bike meant it would have been dangerous to stay out on the track and so he pulled in at the end of the 12th lap.



Speaking afterwards, a disappointed Simon commented; "It's been a real problematical weekend and although I hoped things would right themselves for the race, unfortunately that didn't happen. The bike was better in the morning warm-up and I was hopeful of at least getting a finish out of the weekend although I was still doubtful about how competitive we'd be. I got a good jump off the start and made up a few places but I simply had no drive out of the corners whilst the bike was still slow through the speed traps - I was 5mph down on the next slowest rider and 15mph down on the quickest! I gritted my teeth and dug deep but there was nothing I could do and pulling in was the only real option. The bike's gone back to Holland now to be completely rebuilt so, at the moment, I don't have a bike for the next round at Knockhill. I really want to be there and have spoke to a few people so, hopefully, something will come up - otherwise, I'll be back out fighting hard at Snetterton."



Round 6 of the Championship takes place at Knockhill in Scotland this weekend, July 4th.



Picture by Glynne Lewis



Phil Wain

Freelance PR

# # #

Shop4bikers.co.uk is run by Securit GB Ltd a British manufacturer of the Securit Bike Store (motorcycle garages). Please refer to our other website for more details on our company http://www.securitgb.co.uk/motorbikes/who-we-are-where-we....