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| Joe Burns at Cadwell- photo courtesy of Jon Jessop Photography |
In Free Practice Joe was 3rd quickest just 0.21 behind Jason O’Halloran, and 1.544 behind Danny Buchan, Qualifying 1 took place in bright sunshine later the same day, and initially all was well and Joe set 4th quickest time within 4 laps, however an unexpected rear shock absorber problem hampered the run, but he retained 4th quickest position despite only completing 6 laps, so a good result from the first day’s work.
A brand new rear shock absorber was fitted prior to Qualifying 2 and once again Joe was ‘on the pace’ very quickly, he was just edged out of 4th quickest place by a late run from Hudson Kennaugh, just 0.014 seconds being the difference, so a 5th place start position was the result. During the qualifying run Joe was once again hampered by the rear shock absorber, which surprisingly showed the same problems he had experienced in Q1, a decision was made to switch to a K-Tech unit for the race.
Overnight a new unit was built and installed in the bike, clearly this proved to be a good decision, during the Monday morning warm up on a damp track Joe simply rode away from everyone, setting the fastest time, 0.775 clear of the field.
The weather forecast was for heavy rain, but this held off for the morning and the race was run in dry conditions, Joe started reasonably well, slipping one place to 6th a position he held right through the first 10 laps, but he was running very close to the riders fighting over 3rd place, however Cadwell is not an easy track for overtaking and Hudson Kennaugh seemed to be riding a ‘very wide’ bike!
Sadly the race was stopped on lap 10, due to an accident. Clearly if this not happened Joe had the pace to move up at least one and maybe 2 positions, his lap times being better in comparison to the riders in front of him. So 6th place was the result.
After the race Joe said, “This weekend has been very good, a lot of positives for me, my team worked through the issues with the rear shock absorber and we made the right decisions to go to a different manufactures unit, I was disappointed that the race finished early as I could see that the rear tyre on Hudson’s bike was badly worn, and I knew I could pass him, but it was not to be.”
Joe is now 9th in the Championship standings.
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