Tough weekend for MCE Ducati at Cadwell
The MCE Ducati team continued their difficult season at the seventh round of the British Superbike Championship which took place at Cadwell Park this weekend.
Sunday was a day which promised so much for the MCE Ducati British Superbike Championship Team but ended with Josh Brookes scoring a tenth place finish in the opening eBay sprint race.
The Aussie double BSB champion continued his battle with set up issues on the MCE Insurance and factory-supported Ducati Panigale V4R and started the race from row six of the grid. But the race wasn’t to last long as an accident at The Mountain brought out the red flags on lap two.
In the restart, Brookes battled with a host of riders on the fringe of the top ten and in the end, was rewarded with a tenth-place finish to keep his slim hopes of making the Showdown just about alive.
For teammate Tom Sykes, Sunday was a day of frustration having shown his best form of the season so far for Paul Bird’s Lake District-based team. The Yorkshireman, making a return after 14 years to Cadwell Park, worked his way into the Omologato Superpole competition and ended up setting sixth fastest time on the MCE Insurance Ducati to give him his best start of the season on row two.
The ex-World Superbike champion was circulating towards the front when a rash move from rival Danny Buchan had them both on the grass at the Hairpin but not long after, the race was stopped due to the accident.
The restart saw Sykes again towards the front and showing good pace when he was taken down at Mansfield Corner by Christian Iddon with just two laps to go, ending his promising race.
After Sunday’s promising start with Tom Sykes qualifying the MCE Insurance-sponsored and factory-supported Ducati Panigale V4R inside the top six, his crash when taken out by another rider in the sprint race set the precedent for what was to follow.
The ex-World Superbike champion battled to a tenth place in Monday’s opening race before crossing the line in a disappointing 20th in the third and final race after losing time early in the race.
The challenging Lincolnshire track didn’t favour teammate Josh Brookes either whereby the Aussie was hoping to improve on his top ten position of Sunday for Paul Bird’s Penrith-based team.
The double BSB champion crashed out over the Mountain in the opening race with a couple of laps to go, luckily without injury, but battled back to record an 11th place finish in the final race of the day.
The team’s disappointment was compounded by the fact that neither rider can now qualify for the title-deciding Showdown later in the season.
Josh Brookes: “Again it’s difficult to put a positive spin on things. We continued to make changes to the bike in the hope of improving it but today, that compromised us getting it off the line. And whilst the set-up was better for the races, I was hampered by getting bad starts. I got stuck in a battle with Tom both times and tried to pass him but crashed on the Mountain and in the final race, it took a long time to pass him, by which time I’d no chance of catching the riders in front. It’s been a painful weekend in more ways than one but that’s the situation unfortunately.”
Tom Sykes: “I don’t really have a lot to say. It’s been another very tough weekend for us and I’m disappointed with the results after a promising start in Superpole yesterday. We’ll regroup and hope for better luck next time out at Snetterton.”
Johnny Mowatt, Team Co-Ordinator: “It’s a very disappointing day as for the first time since it came into play, PBM haven’t made the Showdown which is a significant factor for us. There were some positives, especially as Tom showed his mettle in Superpole, which is where he made his mark in World Superbikes. Josh was lucky to get away without injury after his big crash which was a relief too. We move on to Snetterton where we enjoyed a good pre-season test earlier in the year so hopefully, we can replicate that sort of form.”
Further details can be found at the 2022 MCE Ducati website – check out www.pbmuk.net - and for information on the championship. Please visit www.britishsuperbike.com.
