Burns races to 4th, sets fastest lap

The solid start to Held wearing racer Joe Burns Championship campaign in the 2013 Pirelli National Superstock 1000 Championship continued at Thruxton over the weekend of 12, 13, 14 April, and once again the weather played its part in proceedings with the Friday morning warm up being wet, however undeterred Joe topped the group B timesheet by 4 10 tenths of a second. 

Held wearer Joe Burns - National Superstock 1000 frontrunner

Once again with close to 60 entries Qualifying was spilt into two groups and Group B took to the track  in the late afternoon in dry and bright conditions.  By the end of the session Joe was 3rd quickest just 0.185 off the fastest time. 

The weather came into play again on Saturday with qualifying 2 halted due to rain, which just poured down flooding the track. The consequence being that Joe started 6th on the grid based on the aggregate times of the two groups. 

Sunday dawned with a mix of cloud and sunshine, and the race took place in dry conditions with Joe using his tried and trusted race strategy, keep clear of any first corner mayhem and put in good consistent lap times, and once again it went to plan. 

Joe dropped to ninth place on the first lap, but then began to work his way forward, there were some damp patches on track that were catching the unwary riders, even Joe had a ‘moment’ when he went sideways at Cobb, however he recovered quickly and by lap 7 was in 4th place and catching the leading trio by 1 second a lap. 

By lap 10 he had closed to within 0.3 seconds of the third place man Steve Brogan and the John Guest Speedfit bike and rider looked supreme, everything was set of a thrilling finish until three riders fell off just before Allard, causing a red flag.

Consequently Joe finished the race in 4th, but once again with fastest lap to his credit, and with a huge confidence boost of knowing that he was catching the leaders and with 5 laps left would have been on the podium. This would have been a nice early birthday present for him as on the 15th he celebrates his 21st birthday. 

After the race Joe said that ‘The bike had felt really good, and I am very disappointed not to have had the opportunity to challenge for the podium, just 3 more laps and I would have been past them! But I must take the positives, I am happy with the JG Speedfit Kawasaki bike and today was a good result with more points on the board, I cannot wait for Oulton Park.'

Joe and the JG Speedfit Kawasaki Racing team left Thruxton with 21 Championship points and 4th position in the leader board. There is now a short break until round 3 which takes place at  Oulton Park on the Bank Holiday weekend of 04/05/06 May. 

Joe Burns wears Held leathers and gloves. For more information on the Held range please visit www.held-uk.co.uk