Ben Luxton achieved the first podium finish of his 2019 Pirelli Superstock 600 campaign at Norfolk’s Snetterton circuit last weekend, 19th to 21st July.
DLR Sponsored Super stock rider Ben set and maintained a keen pace on the JR Performance Racing ZX-6R throughout Round Six. He placed P3 and P5 in dry and then damp free practice sessions. Despite a showery qualifying session, Ben placed P4 on the grid with a time of 1m55.782s, +0.879s from pole, then showed his intentions by placing P2 in the warm-up session. In a race heat delayed by a serious accident involving Aaron Clifford and others, Ben fought hard to secure a P3 podium finish with a brisk best lap of 1m54.944s. Ben takes 16 points from Snetterton and lies fifth on the leader-board with 59 points.
“It was a pretty good day,” said Ben. “The weather wasn’t that great. Free Practice 1 was good but we missed half of Free Practice 2 due to rain. In qualifying, we put in five laps on old tyres in sunshine. When we went out again, it started raining on the out-lap. I was happy with P4 in showery conditions. We missed out on a fair bit of track-time overall.
“The first full dry session was the Sunday warm-up. We made some good changes and placed P2. Due to the accident, our mid-day race heat was moved to the end of the day. It was hard to get pumped back up. My start wasn’t the best. I struggled to get going and dropped to P8. I fought my way back to P4 and closed on the frontrunners.
“When I got up to P3, the leaders’ pace felt slow. They were lapping in the 1m57s area and I’d caught them with a 1m54s pace. I passed a couple of them but I couldn’t make it stick and got into a battle. I think I brake earlier and carry more corner-speed, whereas these guys were stronger on the brakes.
“I’m very happy with the result and my confidence is super-high. JR Performance Racing did a great job with the bike. We’re making massive improvements every session and we’re going in the right direction. I’m hoping to run with Shane Richardson at the front next time.
“Massive thanks go out to Joe Richardson, Paul Rogers, Luke Rogers, Cool Milk and all my supporters. I ‘d also like to send Aaron Clifford all of my best wishes for a speedy recovery.”
Ben next takes to the track at Hampshire’s Thruxton circuit from 2nd to 4th August.
