Eugene McManus again showed his pace all weekend at Cadwell Park and managed an excellent fourth in race one. In the second race of the weekend, he held onto the front runners in the opening laps before a small error saw him crash out at Halls Bends on lap four. He has now scored 97 points and is seventh in the championship standings.
Free Practice
Eugene McManus enjoyed a very positive start to the British Supersport weekend at Cadwell Park. In the first free practice session he was 6th with a best time of 1:31.358. In the second free practice, he dropped his lap time to 1:30.239 and moved up to fifth overall. It was also encouraging that the gap to the fastest rider had fallen by nine-tenths of a second.
Qualifying
On Sunday the British Supersport and British GP2 riders took to the Cadwell Park circuit in bright sunshine for the 30-minute qualifying session.
The track was dry and 30 degrees. In the early part of the session, McManus was hovering just outside the top ten before returning to the pits with just over 20 minutes left.
Around seven minutes later he had slipped to 14th position as he made his out lap. He promptly moved up to 12th quickest before moving up to 7th.
One more pit stop and McManus had a couple more chances of improving on his fastest lap time.
He ended with a 1:30.035 which put him 6th in his class but 7th on the combined Supersport / GP2 grid.
Race One
The good weather continued for the Sprint Race on Saturday afternoon. McManus was quickly into fifth position from the start of the race behind Rhys Irwin.
On lap two McManus made his move on the Triumph rider to move into fourth spot in the British Supersport class. McManus set his fastest lap of the weekend, a 1.29.839 but the gap to the leading trio of riders was already a tough challenge.
McManus opened a comfortable gap to the riders behind and went on to cross the finish line
Race Two
The rain had fallen earlier in the day and few people ventured out for the warm-up. Come to the race mid-afternoon the track was dry and the threat of further rain had disappeared.
McManus’s excellent lap time from the Sprint Race meant he started the 16-lap Feature race from 5th on the grid. He made a good start when the lights went out sweeping into the first corner in fifth on track and fourth in the British Supersport class.
In the opening laps, McManus had the pace to stay with the likes of Jack Kenndy, Harry Truelove and Bradley Perie. However, a mistake on lap four saw Eugene crash out at Halls Bends and end his race weekend earlier than intended.
Eugene McManus sits seventh in the British Supersport Championship on 97 points. The next round is at Snetterton from the 9th to 11th September.
