posted on September 30, 2010 15:42
TINMOUTH TAKES WIN AFTER HOYLE DISQUALIFIED
Fuchs-Silkolene British Supersport Championship Round 11 - Silverstone
24-26 September 2010
By Martin Knighton
Ellesmere Port's Jenny Tinmouth took a dramatic victory in the British Supersport Cup at Silverstone last weekend when she was promoted from her second-place finish to top spot after winner Matthew Hoyle was disqualified for a technical infringement.
Her weekend didn't get off to a perfect start as during the first free practice session held in wet conditions, the bike was cutting out, but despite this Jenny achieved a time good enough for 17th position. With the track still damp in the afternoon Jenny had hoped for an improvement in pace, but she didn't manage a flying lap due to still suffering with the problem that had hampered her earlier in the day, which left her a little frustrated going into the following day's qualifying.
Conditions were fully dry for qualifying, despite there being a cold breeze, and Jenny got her head down setting some impressive lap times, ending up in 18th position after her morning run, her best lap being set at an average speed of 97.64mph, placing her as the second fastest of the cup competitors.
The afternoon qualifying saw Jenny up her pace by over half a second, but she slipped down to 22nd position on the grid for Sunday's race, importantly though, she remained ahead of her cup rivals, Dan Kneen, Max Hunt and Patrick McDougall, qualifying in second place of the cup competitors behind, Luke Mossey.
Morning warm up saw Jenny post her best time of the weekend, lapping the 3.67 mile Silverstone Arena GP circuit in a time of 2 minutes 14.579 seconds, putting her ahead of Triumph riders, AJ Venter, Lee Johnston and Dan Cooper.
The race itself was held in difficult conditions, with light rain falling, making the surface very greasy. The original race start was red flagged due to an incident involving several riders, which unfortunately has hospitalized Ian Hutchinson with a serious leg injury.
Upon the restart, Jenny got away well, holding 19th position at the end of lap one, and with the race being shortened to 8 laps due to earlier stoppages, she would concentrate on reeling the laps off to ensure a safe finish. By lap five she had progressed to 18th position and took the chequered flag in 17th position and second place in the Cup.
Later in the afternoon the results had been amended due to Matthew Hoyle's bike failing a post race technical inspection due to an inoperative electric starter, which promoted Jenny to 16th position overall and to her first ever win in the British Supersport Cup, also setting the fastest lap by a cup competitor. The extra points mean that she leads the series going into the final round, but on count back, as the series is scored over nine rounds, not twelve, it's going to be difficult for her to win the series.
"Well that was a bit of a rollercoaster of a weekend, we had some problems with the bike on Friday, and have to thank GNS Racing for their help in supplying spares. Once the bike was sorted, I got on with qualifying and was pleased with my times," said Jenny.
"Conditions weren't ideal for the race but we made the best of it and brought it home for a cup podium which was pleasing, then we discovered that Matthew (Hoyle) had been excluded which meant I had won! I'm gutted for Matty and it's not the way I'd like to win the race but I am grateful for the promotion to first as the extra points put me closer in the title hunt going into the last round.
"I've had a great season and just hope we can finish it off with a good performance at my 'home' round at Oulton Park. As always, a massive thank you to all my sponsors and supporters, and thanks again to GNS Racing for their help."
jennytinmouth.com