BSB: Fourth for McConnell and FS-3 Racing at Snetterton

Published: 13 July 2016

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Billy McConnell took a surprise result for the FS-3 Racing team after intelligently managing his tyres to beat factory Kawasaki rival Leon Haslam to fourth place in Sunday’s opening race.

An all new outfit for 2016, FS-3 Racing bought all of Paul Bird’s Kawasaki machinery at the end of last season and an eleventh hour deal saw Aussie McConnell step up to ride the ex-Shane Byrne championship winning ZX-10R.

With a best result of tenth prior to the weekend’s fifth round at Snetterton, McConnell spent time going over footage of how four-time champion Shane Byrne would ride the bike bike in order to get used to the Kawasaki after switching from the BMW S1000RR he rode last year.

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“We didn’t expect a fourth today to be honest, I’d have been happy with points,” he told MCN grinning from ear to ear. “I was watching back footage of Shakey riding the bike last night and he really stands it up and squares it out of corners, so I gave it a go and because I was spending so much time standing the bike up it saved the tyre quite well and I was able to push on and even took Haslam for fourth.”

Without adding to pit lane gossip, there did seem to be some control tyre inconsistencies over the weekend. Heaven knows what Thruxton will bring.

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By Oli Rushby

Former sports reporter covering British Superbikes, World Superbikes and road racing