Eugene McManus Junior finished the opening Round of The Hel Performance Motostar Championship with a solid 6th place in Race 2 on Sunday, after crashing out of Race 1 on Saturday.
"Steady away" was the order from McManus Senior and the Wee bull obliged in FP1 on Friday.
He finished P3 in the session and completed 22 laps in wet and overcast conditions that weren't ideal. FP2 in the afternoon provided McManus Junior with a drier track to make improvements and put in another 29 laps, finishing day 1 in P8.
Qualifying on Saturday took place in glorious sunshine. McManus Junior was struggling to break into the sub 50 second lap times that would put him on the front row and although he eventually set a 49.919 lap this was only good enough for P9. Team City Lifting and fellow RS Racing rider Jack Scott pinched pole from Jake Archer, with Ed Rendall completing the front row for Race 1.
Race 1 didn't go to plan and McManus Junior found himself with work to do from the off. He made up 3 places and sat in 6th position until lap 9 when he crashed out of contention. A disappointing end to the first race of 2018 but The Wee Bull as ever gave an honest post race assessment;
Eugene Junior
" I made some simple errors and mistakes, particularly in the corners, I was pushing too hard and should have been more patient. I will be starting 7th in Race 2 and wont make the same mistakes again. Moving from the 600cc Moto2 at Donington back to the Moto3 bike has been more difficult than I anticipated and I need to settle down again. Hopefully I can pick up some good points tomorrow"
Race 2 started much better for McManus Junior, as he pushed through to 6th place without incident to secure 10 Championship points and take something home from the weekend.
Team City Lifting's Jack Scott picked up his first Moto3 win ahead of team mate Archer, with american youngster Brandon Paasch in third.
Eugene Junior
" I'm relieved to finish race 2 with some points, this wasn't the best start to a season for me but it's a long year and I am determined to push on. The team have been fantastic and I cannot thank them enough for all their hard work."
Eugene sits 9th in the standings after round 1 with a bit of confidence regained.
E15 Racing head onto Oulton Park for Round 2 of The Motostar Championship over the weekend 03-05 May. ( Round 3 of The Bennetts British Superbike Championship )