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Ellison Takes Championship Lead

Maxxis sponsored Gbmoto Racing and James Ellison continued their podium run at Oulton Park with a second place in the final race. With two of his closest rivals crashing out of contention, the podium gives Ellison the lead in the MCE British Superbike Championship as it heads into a lengthy break. Team mate James Westmoreland continued to improve with every outing to score his first points of the Championship.

With wet weather disrupting Free Practice, the JG Speedfit Kawasaki duo of James Ellison and James ‘Westy’ Westmoreland had to quickly dial in settings during qualifying. Continuously running top six pace, Ellison was able to progress through all three qualifying sessions to secure a sixth place and second row start for the opening MCE British Superbike Championship race. It was a different story on the other side of the garage as Westy struggled to match the pace of his team mate, qualifying in 21st.

Thankfully the sun came out for the thousands of fans who packed the Oulton Park circuit on Bank Holiday Monday, with warm conditions gracing the Cheshire circuit for both races. The first race saw Ellison forced wide into the opening corners and pushed back a few places, crossing the line at the end of the first lap in eighth. Chipping away at the riders in front, he was able to reach sixth place however the gap to the front five proved too big to overcome by the checkered flag. Despite his lowly starting position, Westy launched off the line to be 12th at the end of the opening lap. Embroiled in a race long battle, he was pushed back to 13th at the line to enjoy his first point-scoring ride of the season.

For the second race, Ellison again started from sixth on the grid whilst Westy moved forward to 16th. Taking a strong start, Ellison immediately entered into a five rider battle for the lead. As the race entered its closing stages, Ellison was sitting in fourth when second place Kiyonari attempted a pass on leader Byrne, resulting in both crashing out of contention. Attempting to pass Easton for the lead at the final corner, Ellison narrowly missed out on the victory but his fourth podium of the year means he now leads the Championship by eight points. Westy again took a step forward in the second race, dicing with a large group of riders for the top ten, eventually taking the flag in 11th to make it two point scoring rides.

Heading into the lengthy break as Championship leader, James Ellison said, “A bit like Donington, this was a weekend of two halves! I really struggled in the opening race and got caught up a bit at the start and although I was running the same pace as the top five, we just couldn’t close the gap. We made some geometry changes in between races and it was like riding a different bike as I was able to make my lines and hit all my apexes.

The pace of the top five was exactly the same and you could probably see that we were really struggling to pass each other as we were so similar – you could see it when Kiyo tried to pass Shakey that we had to go to the edge to get through. Obviously those two crashing out is not what we want to see but I’m dead happy to be leading the Championship going into the break and I’m really pleased for the team and Mark in particular as GBmoto has never led a BSB Championship before!”