Buildbase Ducati Race Team

The Buildbase Ducati Race Team was not able to race this weekend at the opening round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch, due to extreme snow falls throughout the day (Sunday 6th April) which put a stop to all proceedings. The decision was made by the Championship organisers MSVR that the race would be cancelled and re-run on May 10th and 11th using the qualifying positions from April 5th, putting Buildbase Ducati rider John Laverty in 2nd position on the Daily Star Cup grid (17th overall) and his team-mate Michael Rutter on the North West 200 Ducati in 8th place.

The weather conditions at Brands Hatch were cold but dry throughout Friday practice and up until the last five minutes of Saturday qualifying, when they were hit with heavy rain. The two Ducati 1098R riders were performing consistently well throughout the weekend and were eager to get the first races of the season underway.

British Superbike Cup contender John Laverty said "I'm really gutted not to have been able to race today but all in all I'm really happy with the way things have gone this weekend. I was consistently one of front runners in the Superbike Cup so I'm hoping for a good season on the Buildbase Ducati 1098R. My team got so many things sorted and ironed out this weekend and made the bike feel really good for me and much easier to ride, I'm grateful to them for all their help. I just hope that the weather brightens up for Thruxton in a couple of week’s time so that we can get some racing done and I can give my team two good results!"

Michael Rutter, competing in the British Superbike Championship, commented "Once again we've been hit by the British weather but the organisers have definitely made the safest decision for all the teams and riders. We made some big progress this weekend with the bike and I was happy with the way things were going. We are back here in May for the race and we will be leaving straight from Brands Hatch to go to the North West 200, which starts on Tuesday 13th May. It's a bit tight for time but it will be ok."

Team Manager Ken Foley commented "The entire Buildbase Ducati Team has worked exceedingly hard this weekend and throughout the winter period to get ready for the start of the season. The weather conditions certainly weren't ideal racing conditions but it was in the safety and best interest of the riders that the meeting had to be cancelled. It's disappointing for everyone involved and for all the hundreds of loyal fans that showed up to give their support, hopefully the weather will be kind to us at Thruxton and we can get the race season underway. We've now found a good race set up on both the boy’s Ducatis and are looking forward to getting back on the track in a couple of weeks time.

(Qualifying Positions to be carried forward to May 11th at Brands Hatch)

Relentless 125 British Championship

Snow go for front row Luke

The first round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship took place last weekend at Brands Hatch. Unfortunately due to heavy snow the meeting was cancelled. This was a great disappointment for Stratford upon Avon rider Luke Hinton competing in the Relentless British 125 Championship. Luke, riding his Buildbase/Knotts Honda had performed well in pre-season testing in Spain and was really looking forward to a good start and showing some established stars that he is a true contender for the title.

Free practice on Friday had gone well and Luke was constantly in the top 10. Luke implemented an internal gearbox change believing that this would get him closer to the front for Saturdays qualifying. Well it certainly did, Luke was quickest throughout the whole of qualifying and was set for a career first Pole Position. Unfortunately this was not to be and right and the end of the session luke was demoted to 2nd place by a mere 0.10 of a second. Although the front row start was an excellent result the young rider still believed he could go quicker and was looking forward to the race to proof it. Unfortunately Sunday morning was met with a large covering of snow and the meeting had to be cancelled.

A spokesman for the Buildbase/Knotts team commented " We are all so very disappointed, after a fantastic qualifying we were sure Luke was in for a good result and it's a shame he not been able to show us. On the upside it's nice to see Luke showing his true potential and the whole team is looking forward to the next round at Thruxton on the 20th April".

Pete Jennings
Buildbase/Knotts

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