Howie Mainwaring-Smart had a tough weekend in the latest round of the MCE British Superbikes from Oulton Park.
On-board his Quattro Plant Kawasaki Howie was hoping that Oulton Park would be a happy hunting ground for the Aylesford based rider.
It wasn’t to be the case unfortunately as he was on the back foot from the off with issues hampering his testing on Friday. He managed to qualify just outside the top ten for the opening race of the three race weekend on Saturday in 13th place.
His aim will have been to try and finish in the top ten, but after just two laps he was out of the race and forced to watch the rest of the race from the side of the track.
He crashed out at Old Hall Corner and that meant that he found himself towards the back of the grid for the first of the two races on Sunday, starting from 19th and the seventh row.
Any hopes of points though soon disappeared on the third lap when he overshot at Hizzy’s, dropping him back to 23rd, and although he was able to claw back some of the ground, 17th was where he placed at the chequered flag in the opening race on Sunday lunchtime.
The final race of the weekend saw him getting back close to his best and a determined ride saw him rewarded with tenth place for six more hard earned Championship points, which was nothing short of the reward that he deserved for his efforts across the weekend.
Giving his thoughts after the weekend, Howie said: “It’s been a massively difficult weekend and after the problems on Friday, it was an uphill battle. Saturday’s final practice session was wet so we went into qualifying blind and bit the screen to take 13th. We then had to change engines moments before the first race and then I wrote the bike off in the crash.
“It looked like the whole weekend was going to be a disaster but I rode the wheels off the bike in the final race and to come from 22nd on the grid to tenth feels like a win for me. My lap times were extremely strong and it’s got my confidence back so let’s hope for a bit more luck in the final three rounds.”
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