posted on April 07, 2010 22:02
TINMOUTH TAKES POSITIVES FROM BRANDS!
Fuchs-Silkolene British Supersport Championship Round 1 - Brands Hatch Indy
2-5 April 2009
By Martin Knighton
Jenny Tinmouth has taken sixth position in the Cup, and 24th overall in the opening race of the 2010 Fuchs-Silkolene British Supersport Championship, held on the Brands Hatch Indy circuit over the Easter weekend.
Having upgraded to a newer Honda CBR600RR for this season, Tinmouth completed 69 laps during the two combined free practice sessions, held in contrasting conditions. In the wet she ran a used tyre and no quick shifter, but she was more than comfortable with the settings and declared the bike 'ace, which was proven with her running 6th overall and being the leading cup competitor, of the 25 riders circulating. In the dry, second free practice, Jenny decided to do as many laps as possible to get used to her new bike, completing a total of 38 laps despite the rear tyre 'going off' mid session.
The first of two timed qualifying sessions went very well for Jenny, setting a new personal best time of the Brands Hatch Indy circuit, having come into the pits towards the end of the session for fresh rubber on the rear! Going back out, she immediately improved, and ended up an impressive 23rd with a time of 48.242 seconds, just 1.506 seconds shy of provisional pole sitter, Billy McConnell. Her tactics for final qualifying were somewhat ruined by the weather. She had elected to come into the pits after ten minutes as she was running in traffic, whilst in the pits a new rear tyre was fitted and she was to wait until near the end of the session to put in her best laps to make the most of the short life of the tyre. However, as she went back out on track it started to rain, ruining any chance of improving her time, placing her in 26th position on the grid.
Tinmouth started the race strongly, improving her position early on and running as high as 21st overall, but as the laps went by she found herself in a closely fought group, and in her efforts to get into position to attack a rider in front she found herself being passed, knocking her rhythm and concentration and she eventually finished the slightly shortened race in 24th position.
Speaking afterwards Jenny said: "It was great to get racing again this weekend after the long winter, I'm really happy with the bike and we just need to keep improving. I'm frustrated with the race result as I should have pushed on harder after my initial good start, but I'm not 100% used to the bike yet and what it will do. I was learning all the time today, and I'm sure with some more mileage under my belt there is more to come from both the bike and myself. I'm already concentrating on Thruxton now. I'm really looking forward to getting back out there!"
Jenny will be back in action for round two of the Fuchs-Silkolene British Supersport Championship, which takes place over the weekend of 16-18 April; as the series visits the high speed airfield circuit of Thruxton.
jennytinmouth.com