Westmoreland Wins and Takes Championship Lead In British Supersport
19/04/2010 18:27:39

Free Practice went well, as we concentrated on our race pace and tyre life, and we ended Friday Afternoon in 2nd position. Qualifying was very successful, again concentrating on race distance and setting the bike up so it would be very strong in the 18 lap race. I knew we were fast on race tyres and that was the most important factor. On soft tyres I didn’t put in the perfect lap and ended up 4th, just 0.08 from pole position!

Warm up was again positive, and I topped my first session of the weekend with a time under my lap record from 2009.I was very confident for the race.

I got a good start and half way around the first lap I was 4th before passing two riders into the chicane to end lap 1 in 2nd. I took the race lead on lap 2 and tried to get my head down and break the pack but I was overtook a few laps later and decided to sit tight and let the race unfold. Before I knew what was happening I had dropped to 5th and started to get mixed up in other rider’s battles. I could see Billy trying to get away at the front, and on lap 10 of 18 I started to make progress back to the front. By lap 11 I was back in front and I knew I had the pace to do mid 17’s at the end of the race so I got my head down and reeled off the laps. I never managed to gap Tom Grant and Graeme Gowland but I made sure I was strong were it mattered in the lap and I did enough to get the race win for CAME Yamaha. I made a small mistake at the Chicane on the last lap but I held it together to get maximum points. My CAME Yamaha was perfect this weekend and was amazing to ride, I feel we have made a real step forward and hopefully we can carry this momentum forward. I must thank the whole team, Steve Rodgers at Raceways,my Crew chief Colin, Simon, Jonny, Andy, everyone at CAME and the rest of the sponsors and also my personal sponsors. We head to Oulton in 2 weeks with a 14 point lead in the British Supersport Championship.

Thank You.

James.

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