Thruxton Race Circuit in Hampshire proved itself to be a major challenge for Jentin Racing and Simon Andrews at the weekend. The search for a suitable chassis setting on this 200mph race track proved costly for the team. The hot weekend raised the track temperatures to something more recognisable in the Mediterranean and this along with an already abrasive track surface caused major problems for all of the British Superbike teams. With only one qualifying session to achieve your grid position, a technical problem resulted in Simon sitting out the last half of qualifying and having to endure the drop from the third row to the seventh and being relegated to twenty seventh place.

Starting the first race from 27th place on the grid Simon got stuck in the lower qualifiers and needed to fight his way up the order quickly. Slow progress was made but the lap times were not coming down fast enough. The concerns and doubts about the chassis setting and whether had we made the correct choices to produce the kind of platform Simon required to counteract the conditions were confirmed. He finished in a hard fought for twenty first place.

The preparation for race two involved some major changes to the suspension and the view was taken, that a more radical approach was needed if we were to improved the handling of the bike. Simon needed to gain twelve places to get in the points, which was a tough task but the team believed that it was within his reach. The changes helped the handling and by lap twenty of twenty two Simon had made fifteenth place and was in the points. Having made the target the team’s excitement was soon extinguished as they watched Simon slip back and take the chequered flag in sixteenth place. A further technical problem forced Simon to slow his lap times and cool the engine which had over heated caused by a stone being thrown through the radiator!