Held Racer Report: Leon Jeacock, Oulton Park BSB

The picturesque Oulton Park circuit in Cheshire hosted the third round of the Pirelli National Superstock1000 Championship. Leon and the Geo E Davies & Smirk Racing team were hoping to replicate the form shown in the recent official test held at the track here Leon put strong times in and the team were able to gain more data for further use.

For the first time this season the weather was consistent throughout the free practices and sole qualifying session. Dry, sunny and hot weather meant the team could fine tune the Suzuki to Leon’s requirements instead of having to make major changes as in the previous rounds. 

Free practice one and two were held on Saturday and Leon immediately carried on his good form finishing tenth in both sessions, he was confident for the Sunday qualifier. The pace in that session was scorching and even though he went half a second faster than free practice, he still only claimed tenth place on the starting grid.

Monday saw the all important race and Leon made a good start but dropped down to thirteenth in the first corner scramble. Moving back up two places in the next couple of laps to eleventh, he then settled into the race for the next few laps. Lap eight saw him move up to tenth and he started to close the gap to the two riders chasing them down, he slipped into ninth position on lap thirteen holding this position to the chequered flag.

A great weekend for Leon and the team and a well earned result for everyone concerned with the team, looking and riding more confidently with every meeting.

The team now moves onto Snetterton for the next round in mid June.

Pic: Jonny Lee

Held are pleased to support and supply Leon Jeacock. To learn more about Held in the UK please visit 

www.held-uk.co.uk

Held Racer Report: Sean Neary and Zoek Racing, Oulton Park

The two Zoek Racing riders were competing in round three of the Ducati TriOptions Cup at Oulton Park in Cheshire over the bank holiday weekend with Sean Neary from Lymm recording a win and a third place to lead the championship by a healthy nine points and Newark rider Craig Currie securing an 18th place in race two after retiring from the first race with a technical issue.

Neary was competing at his home track and a large contingent of supporters was there to see him race. They were not disappointed as after qualifying in fourth place Neary started the first race from the second row right behind the pole sitter.

He got away to a good start moving straight into second place behind Lewis Rollo and followed him around the Cheshire circuit for a few laps before making his challenge for the lead on lap six of 10. The pair circulated in close company with Rollo challenging at every corner but Neary wasn’t prepared to back off and retained the lead. On the penultimate lap Rollo made a mistake and slid off unhurt out of the race leaving Neary to romp home for his first win of the current campaign with just over a second to spare from Rob Guiver.

He said: “I followed Rollo to see where his weak spots were for me to make a move on him. when I did get past him I kept my cool, checked my pit board and maintained the lead, I lost my knee slider with three laps to go so felt unable to get around the left handers so well. But I had a bit in reserve as well just in case I needed it and am absolutely made up to get the win and have to say a massive thank you to the Zoek Racing team for sticking by me and for all the help from Maxton suspension this weekend.”

In race two Neary didn’t get such a good start and settled into third place for the three laps before being overtaken by Lewis Rollo. But he never gave up and regained third place on lap seven which he held to the chequered flag for his second podium finish of the weekend.

He said: “Third today just caps a solid weekend at Oulton. I am leaving round three with the championship lead so can’t ask for more than that. It will be a long old battle this year but I’m well up for it. Huge thanks to Zoek Racing Team, Matthew Sanders of Zoek, and Paul Nolan of Charlestown for his countless work behind the scenes. Evolution Waste, Craig Currie, JHP Ducati Coventry, Steve Jackson @Toiletspares, Chris Dutton of Claim Eazy, Motul, Joe Carlin, Guy Mainwaring of Held, Shark Helmets, Maxton, Lee Jackson, Applied Nutrition, Warrior Club, Tom Tucker Caines and the whole team for all their hard graft they deserve it, legends the lot of them - and of course Nicola Gore for always supporting me.”

Newark rider Craig Currie was not so successful this weekend but after completing his qualifying in 12th place was looking forward to a good race. As the lights went out he set off from a fourth row grid position but found himself down in 22nd place on the first lap. He made it back up to 19th on lap five but then encountered a technical issue and was forced to retire with three laps remaining.

With the bike back up and running for race two Currie took his place on the starting grid but much further back on row seven. He didn’t get the best of starts but soon recovered and began to make progress, moving into the top 20 on lap four. He continued to move forward and was right behind Paul Slade on the final lap. But although the pair crossed the finish line side by side Slade took flag for 17th place by a whisker from Currie who was just 57 thousandths of a second adrift in 18th place.

The series takes a six week break now to allow for the two major road races, the North West 200 and the Isle of Man TT festival and the riders will reconvene at Snetterton in Norfolk over the weekend of June 15-17 for round four.

For more information on Zoek please click here

For more information on Held please click here