Beowulf Racing star Gino Rea faces a busy weekend

Seventeen-year-old Gino Rea faces a busy weekend aboard the Beowulf Suzuki GSX600-R.

He’s not only racing in the the eighth round race of the 2007 European Superstock 600 Championship, but also be contesting the rescheduled fifth round of the series which was cancelled at Silverstone earlier in the year due to adverse weather conditions.

The double-header will give the Shepton Mallet-based squad twice the chance to shine in front of a crowd of up to 120,000 race fans who will no doubt be cheering on Britain’s James Toseland, the current leader of the weekend’s headline World Superbike series.

The season has so far proved to a roller-coaster ride for the Beowulf team.  One minute they are at the top of the timesheets, towards the bottom the next and then back at the top again a few moments later.

The squad have had their share of practice-session setbacks this year, but undeterred go on to post a decent result in the race. A tiny five-man team racing on a shoestring budget up against factory-backed opposition really shouldn’t be scoring podium finishes, but earlier in the year at Valencia they did do.

Despite all the hype, Team Manager Andy Stone is taking a realistic view towards the squads’ final home round of the season. “There’s going to be a lot of pressure on us to succeed this weekend for sure,” he says.

“But we need to remember that Gino is still in his learning year. He’s never raced on the full Grand Prix circuit at Brands Hatch before, so really this meeting will be no different from all the foreign tracks he’s visited this year.

“We’ll put in the usual 110 per cent effort during practice and hopefully we’ll be there or thereabouts come race day.”

To learn more about Beowulf Racing and Gino Rea, visit www.beowulf-racing.com

CURRENT CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS –
1. Maxime Berger, FRA (Yamaha) – 103pts
2. Michele Magnoni ITA (Yamaha) – 96pts
3. Andrea Antonelli, ITA (Honda) – 83pts
11. Gino Rea, GBR (Suzuki) -30pts