Folkestone based FFX Yamaha made their debut in the MCE British Superbike and Pirelli National Superstock 600 Championships over the Easter bank holiday.
It was definitely a learning curve for Ian Hutchinson in the Superbikes with a 23rd place finish in race one and a retirement in race two.
By contrast Andy Reid had an excellent weekend in the Superstock 600’s taking pole position before finishing fourth in his debut race. It was an excellent achievement for Reid who led most of the race despite suffering with illness.
Hutchinson the TT legend continued to build lap by lap and finished outside the points in 23rd in race one, but the experience gained will have been invaluable for him and the team.
In race two Hutchinson was making further steps forward when he was forced to retire with a technical problem, but he will sure to be making strides at Oulton Park.
Speaking after the opening weekend at Brands Hatch, Ian said: “It was a challenging weekend for me really and I had to keep reminding myself that this was my first race back in a couple of years so it was always going to be a learning weekend for me.”
“The fact that we had qualifying in different conditions also made it more difficult as we ideally wanted another dry session before the races but we still worked hard as team ready for Monday.”
“The first race I was settling back into it and then in race two we had a technical problem that meant we didn’t finish but we have the first round under our belt now and Oulton Park is a totally different track so should be a different story.”
Reid made a sensational start to his Pirelli National Superstock 600 Championship debut, scoring a pole position under the existing lap record. The Northern Irishman however was hit by illness on race day and fought his way to a fourth place finish on his debut weekend.
Giving his thoughts on the weekend, Reid said: “We had a good start to the weekend setting the pole position under the lap record and I felt really comfortable and ready for the race. But when
I woke up Monday morning I really didn’t feel good and at one point I considered not racing. I didn’t want to miss out so I just got on with the job and for my first race on a 600 on the Indy circuit I felt happy to score some solid points as you can’t win the championship at the first round but you can sure lose it!”
“We have some ideas on what we can work on now so I am happy with the progress we have made already.”