NATHAN Pallett produced a batting display in the GP 125 at Knockhill in the latest round of the British Superbikes. Starting from 15th on the grid, Pallett did not get off to the best of starts and lost places early on but his fighting spirit came to the fore as he got his head down and rode in determined fashion. It was fascinating to watch as he made his way back up the field and finished in a very creditable 11th place.
After the race, Pallett said: "That was hard on the last six laps of the race. I was mixed up with three other riders and I was passing them on the technical bits of the circuit just to have them pass me on the straight. “I was getting more and more angry as they passed and I could do nothing about it. If I had made it stick I could have been in seventh so roll on Oulton Park.” The weekend had earlier started a bit slow due to a problem with the front of his Alan Clark Honda GP125. The team found that the front wheel bearing was starting to break up, and in his first qualifying he holed a piston and only completed 14 laps. He just got into the top 20 and in the second qualifying he did 29 laps and got himself up to 15th on the grid.
Ryan Saxelby's qualifying was very consistent around the top 10 in both the first and second sessions, finishing 11th on the grid with his bike working very well in the hot conditions. The RS race team had some good fortune with his team mate Scott Rodgers (from Doncaster) getting on the front row of the grid in second place so the team were understandably on a high before the race. However, the race was a disaster for the team. Both riders got off to flying starts with Scott holding third and Ryan up to seventh after lap one but on the start of the third lap, Ryan’s engine started to nip up and he had to slow down. Scott, meanwhile, passed a rider and moved up to second but the front of his bike tucked under at the next corner and he was sent tumbling down the track at over 80 mph with his bike going on top off him.
Ryan was close enough to see his team mate go down and with his race already over due to his engine, Ryan rode over to where Scott was laying and got off his bike to see if he was ok after the horrific crash. After the race Ryan said: “My bike was flying as was Scott’s but going over the start line I could feel it nipping up and I was devastated as I new I could have got on the podium. When I saw Scott go down and see his bike hit him my first thought was that he could be smashed up more then the bike but fortunately when I got to him he was ok so we watched the race from the side of the track with the marshals. “Both of us should have been on the podium but that’s racing”
Barnsley-based Repli-Cast UK Racing Team, run by Gary Dawson, father of Virgin Mobile R6 rider Benji, have a new rider on the GP125. Canadian champion Alexander Welsh joins the team, while in the Superstock cup, Blacker Hill's Jonathan Howarth was still recovering from a crash at Snetterton and was not fit to ride but he is hopeful of riding in the next stage at Oulton Park, where he will use the free practice sessions to test his fitness.
