ICE Racing: Buildbase BMW Are Back on Track at Brands…

ICE Racing: Buildbase BMW Are Back on Track at Brands Hatch

8th August, 2016

8th August 2016

ICE Racing Update

After a successful weekend, the Buildbase BMW team are back on track following the seventh round of the MCE British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch.

With perfect racing conditions and a 55,000 strong crowd, teammates Lee Jackson and Richard Cooper lined up in 7th and 8th respectively for race one after a successful qualifying session on Saturday where both riders made it through to Superpole. The duo held strong during the 20 laps of the first race of the day, staying with the top 10 of the pack and claiming 5th and 8th position across the finish line.
Lining up side by side once more, Jackson 10th and Cooper 11th, started race two from the fourth row. An incident on track during lap 18 resulted in a further two laps being added after the safety car had been deployed which worked in favour of the BMW S 1000 RR riders. Great teamwork on track saw Cooper making several passes followed closely by Jackson allowing the Buildbase BMW duo to move through the pack to both secure solid point scoring results. Richard crossed the chequered flag in 5th adding 11 points to his Championship standings moving him into 6th position. Lee secured 6th place, taking 10 points leaving him in 13th position after 14 races.

Taylor Mackenzie fired through the pack as the lights turned green for the Pirelli National Superstock 1000 race, having qualified in fifth the number #77 rider started the race from row two and was immediately on the attack, charging for the lead. Battling with Michael Rutter it was during lap four that Mackenzie made the move to put daylight between himself and the rest of the class. A comfortable 1.171s separated Taylor from second-placed Ian Hutchinson as the 15 laps came to an end. Mackenzie extends his Championship lead further by 28 points.

Lee Jackson: “This weekend has been my strongest weekend so far, setting a good pace on Friday and having worked on the set up during Friday and Saturday it put it me in good stead for qualifying on Saturday. I made it through to my first Superpole and I was happy to start race 1 in 7th place.
Race one didn’t quite start as I wanted, but I was ready to fight my way through which is what I did and I managed to cross the line in 5th having been down in 11th on lap one. Race two I was feeling more confident and comfier with the pace so I was looking for a good start from 10th on the grid. Unfortunately, my start again was average and I kept getting blocked in but habit settled down and making more headway I was feeling good and with 10 laps to go I had made my way through to 8th from 14th. With 4 laps to go the safety car came out and this helped massively as it meant Richard and I could push on and we both made 2 passes on the last lap to finish the race in 6th place.”

Taylor Mackenzie: “I’m really pleased with our performance over the weekend. Although it was my worst qualifying of the year in 5th we worked really hard to make sure we had good race pace and it paid off. Big thanks to the team and all my personal sponsors as always.”

Steve Hicken, Team Manager: ”Great weekend of racing for us, the performance from all three riders was spot on and were delighted to be top BMW in all classes. Lee had a great run out, he was on good form through practice and qualifying. Taylor remains top of his class and this weekend and extended his championship lead.”

MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship standings after Brands Hatch: