7th Place for Held wearer Joe Burns at Snetterton

National Superstock 1000 racer Joe Burns and his Held leathers

 Soaring temperatures at Snetterton Circuit over the weekend helped encourage a huge crowd of spectators to come and watch for some excellent racing, with the Pirelli National Superstock 1000 Championship continuing to maintain its strength with 54 entries.
Qualifying 1 took place on Friday afternoon, with Joe still learning the Snetterton 300 track layout, the resulting 8th fastest time was just 7 tenths off the table topping time set by Jimmy Storrar who was riding a BMW, a bike well suited to the long straights of this circuit. 

Saturday brought a continuation of the good weather, and Qualifying 2 was held just after midday, by the time the chequered flag came out Joe had posted the 6th fastest time giving him a combined qualifying grid position of 7th for the feature race on Sunday.
Joe did not get the best of starts and fell back into 11th place, however by lap 3 he had moved up to 10th and then the race was interrupted by a safety car for 3 laps whilst a fallen rider and bike where recovered, by lap 13 Joe had made it to 7th place where he would finish the race. 

After the race Joe said "I came here not expecting a great deal, it not a favourite circuit of mine, so to finish 7th is better than I expected, but this is a long season and I have held onto 2nd place in the Championship."
 
The result keeps Joe in second place, the gap has opened up to 25 points between 1st and 2nd place, but closed down to just 1 point between 2nd and 3rd . A satisfying result, the next race takes place at Brands Hatch on July 19/20/21

For more information on Held motorcycle clothing, Held motorcycle helmets and Held motorcycle accessories please visit www.held-uk.co.uk

Burns Races to 1st place 4 times at Knockhill

The opening bike race meeting of 2013 for Knockhill Motor Sports Club provided the spectators with some thrilling entertainment, with Joe Burns winning 4 of the 5 KMSC Superbike/Clubman Championship races.

Joe Burns - Superstock 1000 podium next?

Joe topped the qualifying time sheet in conditions that were dry and sunny but with strong gusts of wind, undeterred  he beat the other 28 riders to pole position by 1.317 seconds! 

Sunday dawned with a typical mixture of rain, sun and wind, however in the changeable conditions race one took place in the dry and Joe was able to race away from pole position and pull a lead of 3.85 seconds to come home in first place and with the added bonus of fastest lap of 50.892, set on lap 7.

Joe’s second race of the day took place in damp/windy conditions, which slowed the lap times a little, however the result was another win, and this time by an excellent 10.492 seconds, and fastest lap of 51.104 on lap 6. 

The third race of the day was in equally difficult damp and windy conditions,  however this did not stop Joe from taking a lights to flag victory, romping to the line by 10.392 seconds, and with another fastest lap of 51.497 to add to the collection from the day.

Race 4 for Joe, and after venturing out on track he found the conditions to be very mixed, dry in parts, with a very narrow dry line to the hairpin and then streaming wet further round, so the decision was made not to risk the bike, so he sat the race out. 
Race 5 of the day for Joe and with grid positions decided from your previous race result he found himself at the back of the grid, he quickly worked his way through the back markers and hit the front by lap 5, but this time the result was much closer with just 0.225 separating Joe in first place from Bruce Birnie the reigning Scottish Superbike Champion in second place. 

At the end of the very busy days racing Joe said that ‘Once again the bike felt really good and strong we have the setup right for Knockhill, and this has been useful preparation for Oulton Park next weekend. I am very happy with the JG Speedfit Kawasaki bike, and today was very enjoyable with 4 great results, I cannot wait for Oulton Park. 

Joe and the JG Speedfit Kawasaki Racing team left Knockhill very satisfied with the weekends work, the Knockhill Motor Sports Club website described the KMSC Superbike/Clubman Races as follows: ‘In the Superbike class, it was that man Burns who would prove the class of the field, aboard is JG Speedfit Kawasaki Racing machine, securing four wins in an impressive display’. 

For more information on the gear Joe wears, Held Bike gear, please visit www.held-uk.co.uk