Cadwell Park British Superbikes: Difficult weekend all-round for Relentless boys

All three Relentless Suzuki representatives had a difficult weekend at Cadwell Park for the ninth round of the British Superbike Championship, and all for very different reasons.

Michael Laverty had setup issues over the course of the weekend, and it resulted in a ninth and 10th place finishes.

Despite a brace of top ten finishes, and qualifying tenth by making it into the final phase of the F1-style knockout qualifying session, Laverty admitted it was an underachieving weekend.

“I struggled with my set up this weekend and was very frustrated with the results,” said Laverty.

“In saying that, we did set a goal of top ten at the start of the year but I know we are much better than that.

“Cadwell is a difficult circuit to find the perfect set-up at, although I do think I under-achieved this weekend, so I’m now looking forward to riding the GSX-R1000 Superbike at Croft in two weeks time.”

For Laverty’s Supersport colleague, Ian Lowry, it was a weekend of rueing a big crash on the opening day that destroyed one of his GSX-R600s.

Lowry struggled the following day in qualifying, still carrying heavy bruising from his Saturday crash, and only managed to set the 16th fastest time – row six on the grid in the one-off three-bike-per-row grid for Cadwell.

He said: “”That’s not where I want to be at any circuit, but after crashing heavily on Friday I struggled on the bike with a few bumps and bruises.

“Starting from 16th on the grid left me a big task and I probably used the best of my tyre in the early stages. All I can say is ‘roll on Croft.’”

Superstock Relentless Suzuki man, Cameron Donald, had his own issues when he came down with a stomach bug over the course of the weekend.

The Australian couldn’t hide his disappointment after his final short-circuit race of the season before travelling back home.

Donald said: “I’m disappointed to have ended my season in such a way – I actually wish I was racing at Croft now to make amends!

“At the start of the year people told me to aim for top-10 finishes in the Superstock Championship, but after a podium early on I set my goals pretty high.

“It’s another circuit under my belt and a bit more knowledge gained for 2009.”