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ALEX GAULT - MAG SPORT RACING 2007 - Super Sport Scottish Championship
Rounds 7 & 8 Super Sport Scottish Championship
For this round we had elected not to go to the practice day on Saturday, a decision we might have regretted as this turned out to be the strongest Grid this year.
Bob Grant, Dave Paton, BJ Toal, Championship Leader Kenny Edwards and Irishman Johnny Buckley to name a few all lined up on the grid of the 21 riders.
As the first race for Alex in the European STK 600 race nears, we were also using this round to test some different tyres moving Alex onto “Pirelli” (the one make tyre used in the World Super Bike Series).
We had made a few alterations to the bike since Donington and every thing seamed to be working well or at least Alex was not moaning about it J .
After a short practice session it was into timed Qualifying and he looked good
We were surprised at the result when we heard he was down in 6th place as most who had watched thought he looked well on the pace, ……He was!.............. The first 7 riders separated by less than 0.9 of a second.
Race 1 was “the race of the year” so far for Alex “Stunning” is the only word.
From his start position of sixth on the grid he came round in 5th, the front 6 bikes together.
Alex held on to the leading group when in lap 5 he was overtaken by a hard charging Jonny Buckley setting the fastest lap of the race in the process and demoting Alex back into 6th.
I think there was some swapping of paint on the next lap when Alex not only regained 5th place from Buckley but also past Dave Paton, Lap 9 and Alex past Kenny Edwards on the “Ex-TAS Suzuki” for third and closed down on BJ Toal who was sitting second.
Unbelievable the following lap Alex over took BJ going into the hairpin and the last two laps were the longest I have ever felt.
Out front Bob Grant was unmatchable but the sight of Alex in front of BJ & David, was something else; remember this pair are leading and sitting 3rd in the R6 Cup and here, both were using their Super Sport machines.
It really was the race of the day for these riders, as you will see from the pictures 12 laps of shear excitement from these 5 stars of the future!
Race 2, Alex could only manage a 4th in this one, taking nothing away from him, it was just a different type of race. Out front Davy Paton was “on one” Davy runs in two classes at these meetings and the extra races obviously paid dividends.
It had rained slightly in David’s Production race, (Now there were still some spots of rain, and I mean spots!
Nothing that would have affected the grip available on the track, just in their heads) BJ also had upped the pace Bob was in third and Alex forth. Really it is hard to say it was a worse result for Alex as it was “only on paper” every one of the front 5 had a stunning ride.
Alex’ fastest lap in race 1 was 53.676 his fastest lap in race 2 = 53.684 and when you look at his lap times over the whole race Alex put in some very consistent times 54.588, 54.074, 53.991, 54.129, 53.880, 53.918, 53.861, 53.684, 54.018, 53.882, if you take out his first lap, 9 laps within 0.4 of a second isn’t to shabby.
Anyway the rain which had been forecast; stayed away apart from one shower during the Production 600 race, Bloody good job really as I’ve had enough of changing Bloody wheels and making wrong decisions.
Think the past 4 or 5 outings have been plagued by rain.
I know track conditions are the same for everyone………it just seems everyone enjoys it more when it’s dry! And I think every one enjoyed their days racing at Knockhill.
So Alex’s 2nd and 4th at this meeting was only good enough for 4th over all; so close had the racing been, Bob (Grant Racing Honda) took the meeting win with a 1st and a 3rd.
Davy (Double M Yamaha) second with a Win and a 5th, BJ (JB Plant Hire Yamaha) third with a 3rd and a 2nd and Alex (Suzuki) in forth with his 2nd and 4th ……………all in all a fantastic days racing!
Despite having missed 3 of the 8 races, Alex now finds himself sitting in 4th position on the Championship table.
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