Held Racer Report: Sean Neary, Zoek Racing, Snetterton

ZOEK RACING SNETTERTON

Snetterton played host to round four of the Ducati TriOptions Cup this week with Sean Neary finishing his first race in fourth place but retiring from race two with a technical issue.

His Zoek Racing team mate Craig Currie was 14th in race one and 13th in the second race.

After qualifying on pole position for the first race, Lymm rider Sean Neary didn’t get the best of starts and completed the first of two laps in race one on Saturday in third place. Phil Atkinson demoted him to fourth on lap three but Neary powered back past to reclaim third one lap later. But his progress was short lived as on lap six Atkinson went past again and although there was less than half a second separating the two riders the red flag brought the race to a halt on lap eight and a result declared on positions on lap seven.

Neary commented: “The race didn’t go our way today as it was cut short which didn’t do us any favours for a podium however we didn’t have the pace to win.”

Neary lined up on the front row for race two on Sunday morning but things didn’t quite go to plan as, although he was running in fourth place for the first few laps he was forced to retire at half race distance with a technical issue. He said: “As race weekends go it was pretty poor!!  A technical issue with the bike meant we didn’t finish race two. Not ideal but on the positive side it can always be worse! We will work hard and come back strong for Brands Hatch. Thanks to the team for all their hard work.”

With a non finish to his second race Neary has lost his series lead but is holding a strong second place on 108 points.

Meanwhile Newark rider Craig Currie went well during qualifying to start the first race from the middle of the second row. He held eighth place on lap one but began to drop back and completed the 10 lap affair in 14th place to pick up two championship points.

Starting race two on Sunday from the fifth row it was always going to be a challenge to get up into the top 10 but Currie made headway and completed the race in 13th place to secure another three championship points.

Snetterton was a positive weekend for the Nottinghamshire rider as he got his first points of the new season on board and has made good progress with the Ducati.

The next round is at Brands Hatch over the weekend of July 20-22 when both Zoek riders will be seeking strong results to boost their points tally with Neary looking to regain his series lead and Currie to move further up the standings.

Held UK are proud to supply Sean Neary with leathers and gloves!

Held Racer Report: Leon Jeacock, Snetterton BSB

The Snetterton300 Circuit held the latest round of the Pirelli National SuperStock1000 Championship and Leon and the team were hoping for a good result after the last couple of rounds. Sadly this didn’t prove to the case as it turned into a very testing weekend for both rider and team.

From first free practice, right through to qualifying Leon suffered numerous niggles with the Suzuki and all in all it was a difficult few sessions for the team. In free practice one Leon posted a time good enough to be in the top fifteen and held on to this position in free practice two. Qualifying was held in hot conditions and as the temperature soared the fortunes of the team dipped. 

A brake problem raised its ugly head and Leon was struggling to get the Suzuki stopped at the end of the two long straights at Snetterton. This problem dropped Leon down the order and he took eighteenth place on the grid.

Making a good start and holding position for the first couple of laps, the front brake problem resurfaced and after taking evasive action on lap three he dropped down the field to twenty fourth place. Now he was not only fighting the technical problem but having to claw his way back through the midfield pack and this he did very well. He had made it back to twentieth when he had to retire from the race due to the brake problem becoming un-rideable.

Speaking after Leon said “we have had a disappointing weekend but we now have two weeks till the Brands Hatch round to sort the Suzuki and we will be going for it from the off” He also added “he wanted to thank all his sponsors for the help and backing they are giving him this season”

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Held Racer Report: Zoek Racing at Snetterton

The two Zoek Racing riders Sean Neary from Lymm in Cheshire and Craig Currie from Newark in Nottinghamshire were at Snetterton in Norfolk for a round of the Ducati Performance TriOptions Cup at the weekend where Neary recorded a brace of fourth places and Currie a brace of 11th in the two 10 lap races.

Sean Neary was struggling with set up at the 2.9 mile Norfolk circuit during free practice but managed to qualify for a second row start to race one. As the lights went out Neary got away to a good, clean start and was third into turn one. He was challenging for second place from the start and on lap two he shot up the inside of Josh Day to secure second place. He then set his sights on Joe Collier who was half a second away in the lead but although he got within a whisker of him he was unable to make a move on him. He began to lose ground and fell back into the clutches of Rob Guiver who managed to overtake him on lap six of 10. The top four riders pulled clear of the pursuing pack but as the race progressed Neary was caught and passed by Josh Day on the penultimate lap. Although not able to match the pace of Day the Cheshire rider crossed the finish line in a strong fourth place, some 11 seconds ahead of Jonathan Railton who was fifth.

 Neary said: “We made a massive gamble with set up for the first race which didn’t quite pay off. We were competitive and up there with the leaders but not quite able to get ahead. We will tweak the settings again for race two and see where we get to.”

As the second race got underway Neary settled into fourth place and although the top two riders pulled clear Neary was edging nearer to Josh Day to fight for third place. He was almost alongside him and ready to make his move when the red flag came out to halt his progress. As two thirds distance had been completed a result was declared at six laps and Neary was once again awarded fourth place. Although disappointed not to have made it up onto the podium the 26 points accrued at Snetterton move him up the rider standings to seventh place on 55 points.

Meanwhile Craig Currie started the first race from a fourth row grid position and was running in 15th through the first two laps. He overtook Jon Waghorn on lap thee and two laps later passed Louis Dawson to move into 13th position where he remained to the chequered flag. However a rider ahead was given a penalty for overtaking under a yellow flag and was penalised one position which elevated Currie to 12th place. There was also one rider ahead in a different class thus Currie was again elevated to 11th.

Lining up for the second race on the fourth row Currie again completed the first few laps in 15th place before beginning his move forward. But when the race was red flagged and the result declared he was awarded 13th place. This time two riders in the other class were ahead and so he was promoted to 11th once again. Currie is now in 10th place in the rider standings on 40 points.

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Held Racer Report: Kurt & Matt Wigley, National Superstock 600, Rd 6

Round 6, Snetterton 300 Race Report

The weekend of the 9th & 10 July was the 6 round of British Pirelli National 600 Superstock where we had a rollercoaster of race meeting. The sixth round kicked off to a bad start with Kurt being taken out mid-way through Fridays practice session when someone crashed into the back of him entering the hairpin of turn 2. After spending the past two weeks building Kurt a new bike the whole team was disheartened. Matt had a better session with getting to grips with the circuit and the tricky wet conditions.

Later that day was the first Qualifying session of the event and looking at the forecast it was to be the only dry session meaning this one had to count. Matt was sent out on circuit with no pit board or crew in pit late as the team were working franticly to get Kurt’s bike fixed from the mornings incident and passed through technical control. Kurt eventually made it out on circuit with 6 laps remaining of the session where he began late 20’s and every lap jumped up another handful of positions until the final lap which put him in 13th. Matt had ‘a bad day at the office’ as he struggled to settle down and piece together a lap time which put him on the backwards foot for the race in 24th.

Qualifying two was a wet session as predicted by the forecast therefore nobody could improve their times which wasn’t our best interest as we felt there was more to give with additional time, however the morning warm up session on Sunday was a step in the right direction. Matt lead for most of the short session as he was determined to get up to pace ready for the race later on. Kurt spent the session in the 30’s testing out some changes the team had made to the suspension in order to allow the bike to turn in easier when carrying speed, on the final lap Kurt got his head down and set a time that was 0.4 of a second faster than his qualifying session leaving him 4th and Matt 9th out of the 40 competitors.

This weekend was an early race at 11:30, just in time before the rain returned. As the lights went out both lads began to barge their way through those in front, unfortunately for Matt, he only made it to turn two before a repeat of Kurt’s Friday incident was duplicated and he hit the ground following another racer crashing into the back of him smashing his back wheel. Once it was established that Matt was okay the attention of the team was turned to Kurt. After the first lap he made it up to an impressive 8th place and continued to better his lap times picking people off throughout the sprint. The end of the race came and Kurt crossed the line in 5th place as by the time he got to the front of the group the leading 4 had already broken away. This was a solid finish putting Kurt up to 8th in the championship.

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