The Milwaukee Yamaha team returned to the podium in the second round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Thruxton today (Sunday) as James Ellison produced two stunning performances to secure a sixth place from his fifth row start and a third place in race two.
The qualifying session had been cancelled yesterday due to the weather conditions which left Ellison starting from seventeenth on the grid, whilst Australian Josh Waters started seventh. Waters was caught out on the opening lap, suffering a high-speed crash at Village which ended his chances whilst Ellison carved his way through the field to secure sixth place.
In race two Ellison started from the front row and was challenging with the leading group, however the race was red flagged due to an incident and a result declared but he was still able to return to the podium in third. Waters was suffering with a sore wrist after his crash, ending race two in sixteenth place.
Ellison said: “It is good to be on the podium again and I am happy to have ended this weekend with a result. It is a tough circuit, especially with no traction control, so it is all down to the throttle. It was a tough race but we battled on in the first one and salvaged some points and then managed to get a podium in race two after the issues we had at the start of the weekend. I need to thank the Milwaukee Yamaha team for working hard to fix the problem and it felt good to be able to pull the pin today.”
Waters said: “It has been a tough end to the weekend as it started ok for us despite not having much track time, but it was the same for everyone. The first race was really disappointing to have had a crash so early and I really banged my wrist so that made it even more difficult for the second one. I want to thank the guys in the Milwaukee Yamaha garage for their hard work and hopefully we can come back stronger at Oulton Park.”
Team owner Shaun Muir concluded: “The second round here at Thruxton was a mixed one for the Milwaukee Yamaha team. Josh had a difficult start with the changeable conditions and then the big crash in race one dented his confidence a bit and his wrist was very inflamed. However he is now really motivated to come back stronger at Oulton Park. James again this weekend showed his fighting spirit and showed his ability to bounce back from a dismal position that was down to the qualifying being cancelled on Saturday. This showed again just how much James wants to win this title; he was obviously disappointed that he didn’t get the chance to challenge Shakey for the win, which was definitely a possibility if the race had run to the end. We are now all looking forward to Oulton Park.”
