Barnsley’s Wilson Racing Moto3 team enjoyed another successful weekend at Snetterton competing in the fifth round of the Hel Performance Motostar British Standard Class Championship.
Max Cook was looking to continue his fantastic winning streak in race one after setting the fastest lap time in qualifying. However, he was thwarted when another rider T-boned him in the first corner. Somehow he stayed on the bike but he ran on to the grass. He also found he was stuck in third gear. At the end of the first lap he pulled into the pits where the team quickly bent the quickshifter back into position. He’d lost over a minute on the leading riders but battled back for tenth place and six points.
14-year-old Charlie Atkins had qualified fifth and was looking to continue his good form from the last round that saw him score 24 points from the two races. Atkins made a solid start and was running fourth. By lap five the rider ahead had made a gap over Atkins of around 1.5 seconds. However, he got his head down and in doing so set a new standard class lap record. Despite his best efforts he missed out on the podium by 0.163 seconds.
Jake Clark from Bromsgrove joined the team for this round as a wildcard entry. He’d never ridden a Moto3 machine before the race weekend. During free practice he gained some confidence before a number of problems in qualifying meant he didn’t record a lap time. Starting from the back of the grid he brought the bike home in 13th position.
The second race on Sunday had Cook itching to get back on the podium. He was involved in a fantastic battle with two other riders throughout the race. The lead switched hands between them on a number of occasions during the twelve laps. In the end Cook finished second just 0.293 seconds behind the race winner.
Charlie Atkins started as the top standard class rider after his lap record time from race one. Unfortunately, he had a huge slide in turn three and then hit a false neutral in turn four on the first lap. This caused him to run onto the grass and drop down to fifth position. Although he battled hard to the end of the race he had lost the leading group and crossed the line in fifth place.
Jake Clark continued his Moto3 learning experience in the second race at Snetterton. During the race he set his fastest lap time of the weekend and finished in 11th place to claim five more championship points.
Max Cook still leads the Motostar British Standard Class Championship with 201 points, 47 ahead of his nearest rival. With Atkins collecting another 24 points he has moved into sixth position overall.
Gary Wilson said, “Max was unlucky in race one, but he managed to hold on and those six points might be important at the end of the season. Atkins again scored good points again and his pace in race one was fantastic. It was pleasing to see Jake grow as the weekend went on and it was nice to have him and his family with us this weekend.”
The next round for Wilson Racing will be at Brands Hatch on the 21 – 23 July 2017.