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The Real Cycle People
44 George Street, Perth

SAME PROBLEMS, DIFFERENT DAY

Young KRP star Robbie Stewart bounced back after two consecutive DNFs in the British 125GP Championship to finish second in the ACU Academy Cup and a creditable fifth in round four of the main series at Oulton Park on Spring Bank Holiday Monday.

Team-mates Nikki Coates and Tom Hayward finished sixth and eighth respectively at the historic 2.69 mile Cheshire track but it was another difficult and disappointing weekend for a team more used to winning races and championships than filling the lower leaderboard places.

"It was good for Robbie's confidence to get some points on the board but it's frustrating to have given away so many points to our rivals so early in the season," reflected team boss Mark Keen. "We've got two riders who should be challenging for the championship and two others who should be not far behind them but things have not quite come together for us so far this year."

Boxed in after a poor start, Stewart clawed himself back to seventh during the opening lap and by the end of lap three he had passed Stewart Finlay and Scott Rogers to take fifth. But by this time the leading foursome of Jones, Mossey, Coghlan and Beech had broken away and the Perth teenager settled for controlling his lead over the rest of the field to score his first championship points since the season opener at Brands Hatch in March.

"The bike was as strong as we would have liked so making up seven seconds on the leaders in 11 laps was not a realistic proposition," said Keen. "Riding to the pitboard was the right thing to do on this occasion but Robbie needs to get going earlier in races if he wants to get back to winning ways."

KRP's Ulster rider Nikki Coates started the race from the second row but a coming together with ex-British champion Mick Wilcox at the first turn resulted in them both running wide and slipping back into the pack. The pair then spent the race battling through the field and, after sitting behind Wilcox for the last few laps in seventh, Coates mugged the veteran former champ on the final bend to steal sixth place at the flag.

Not far behind in eighth was KRP's Tom Hayward from Lincoln who also had to fight his way through from midfield to achieve a top ten finish. Still stiff from his big Thruxton crash, Hayward struggled with bike problems throughout the weekend and qualified in a lowly 18th place.

"We checked his frame on a jig after Silverstone and all seemed ok but the chatter problems returned in practice at Oulton," explained Keen."So we dismantled his bike completely and rebuilt it around a different frame, swinging arm, forks and yokes. This cured the problem but then we were plagued by a misfire so Tom barely got any laps in and had to qualify on the spare bike."

Keen left the circuit on Sunday evening and used a dyno to find the engine fault enabling Hayward to use his own bike for the race. "It was another really difficult and frustrating weekend for Tom and once again he overcame the problems to score good points," said Keen.

Anthony Rogers was forced onto the grass and crashed heavily during Saturday's crowded first qualifying session after picking the wrong moment to pass a slower rider. Keen said: "Oulton Park is a difficult enough place to put a good lap together without having to contend with so much traffic. Frustration got the better of Anthony and he paid a high price. It was a really unfortunate crash."

Despite being badly battered and bruised, Rogers dug in during Monday's race and the tough teenager put in in a characteristically gritty performance. He was running in fifth when a failed crankshaft bearing ended his involvement on lap three.

The next round of the British 125GP Championship takes place at Snetterton in Norfolk on May 20.

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