The Hel Performance Motostar British Championship fifth round took place at the Snetterton 300 circuit. Charlie Atkins had another successful weekend in the standard class, coming fourth in the first race and beating the existing lap record, and fifth in the second.
The weekend started well for the Goole race as he set the third quickest time in first free practice. He was unable to improve on his morning lap time in FP2 so finished the day fourth quickest overall.
On Saturday morning the riders took to the track for the half an hour qualifying session. Atkins took more than a second off his previous day’s best time to qualify fifth fastest in his class for the first race.
In the afternoon the riders enjoyed a ten lap race. Atkins made a good get away and was in fourth position in the standard class running behind Jack Scott. The gap between them was around a second and by lap five was almost a second and a half. Atkins then found some extra pace and began to chip away at Scott advantage. By lap eight it was less than seven tenths. As they finished the penultimate lap it was down to six tenths. Ultimately it turned out to be too much but Atkins gave it everything clawing back almost half a second to finish 0.164 seconds off the podium. He also set the fastest lap of the race and new standard class lap record of 2:03.858.
Sunday’s race was 12 laps of the 300 circuit and took place in the afternoon. With Atkins having set the fastest lap in race one he started as the leading rider in his class and tenth on the combined grid with the GP riders. On the first lap Atkins had a big slide in turn three but managed to keep control then hit a false neutral going through turn four. This unfortunately sent him onto the grass and he dropped down to fifth in his class.
Atkins fought hard to recover and closed the gap on the rider in front to overtake him with four laps remaining. However, he had to settle for fifth place across the finish line.
Charlie Atkins collected 24 points this weekend and has moved up to sixth in the championship standings, nine behind the rider in front. Unfortunately his lap record time was bettered in race two on the Sunday.
Charlie Atkins said, “Gary Wilson gave me a great bike again this weekend which enabled me to set a great pace in race one. We were close to a podium in the first race. I started well in the second race but on the first lap I had a massive slide in turn three and then I hit a false neutral next corner that sent me on to the grass. Luckily I held on, but it left me with a lot of work to do. A fifth at the line wasn’t to be bad considering the first lap! Finally, I would like to thank my sponsors Harmen Carpets, MustHaveMediaServices.com and The Bell and Crown pub.”
The next round is at Brands Hatch on the 16nd July.