Although Eugene McManus was unable to complete either of the two races at his wildcard entry to the World Supersport races at Donington Park, there were positives to take away from the weekend.
Race 1 ended on the first lap. After being clipped by another rider the Triumph Street Triple RS 765 turned into a fireball on the run-off at Foggy Esses. On a bike rebuilt overnight, McManus completed 10 laps of race 2 before a fall ended his weekend at Donington. Free Practice
19th was a bright start for Eugene McManus on Friday in FP1, with a best lap time of 1:31.994. FP2 was wet so the team decided there was little to be gained and much more to be risked venturing out in those conditions.
Superpole
The 20-minute Superpole session was dry. Eugene McManus completed 10 laps during the allotted time but was unable to match his excellent performance on Friday. He qualified 24th on the grid.
Race 1
The opening lap of any motorcycle race is probably one of the most difficult to avoid trouble. So it proved to be for Eugene. As he entered the Foggy Esses he was clipped by another rider in a normal racing incident. Unfortunately, for the number 15, he should have been flicking left then right but found himself sliding in a straight line, To add to his woes the bike then caught fire causing serious damage.
Race 2
The team did an amazing job working late into the night to repair the damaged Triumph so McManus could get out for the warm-up and then race 2.
Eugene managed to finish warm-up with his best lap time so far of the weekend on his rebuilt Triumph machine. A 1:31.653 gave the team confidence for race 2.
In the early laps, McManus battled with McPhee, Fulgini, and Kofler oscillating between 22nd and 26th which positions changing regularly.
Unfortunately, he suffered a second DNF after falling at Goddards. Determined as ever Eugene remounted but was not able to finish the race, finally falling for a second time at Redgates having damaged the brakes in the first incident.
The Completely Motorbikes / Affinity Sports Academy rider and team came to Donington for valuable track time and experience with their new bike this year. The results were not what the team had hoped for but McManus improved his lap time from a best of 1:31.994 in FP1 to 1:31.149 during race 2 on a rebuilt bike against the best Supersport riders in the World.
Comments