The Biker Place

Connor Behan had a great weekend at Oulton Park, claiming his best result yet in the BSB GP125 Series.

Connor got his first tastes of the podium this season, with a 2nd place in the championship and a 2nd place in the Academy cup.

After a couple of excellent practice sessions on the Saturday came qualifying. He got up to provisional 2nd place when a bearing gave way, causing him to miss the last few vital laps. Annoyed because he was riding well and thought he could get pole, Connor had to settle for 5th.

On Saturday evening, everyone worked late- after a mercy dash to Ormskirk for parts. Eventually the bike was repaired and ready for second qualifying on Sunday. But with damp conditions, times could not be improved and it was going to be a 5th grid position for the race.

In the race itself, the conditions were ideal and Connor got off to a good start, it soon became a battle of six riders for the duration of the race. The leader broke away, leaving the other five to fight it out until the end. The race was full of outbraking manoeuvres from start to finish, with positions changing on every lap. On the eighth lap, Connor had a coming together with Lee Costello causing him to take to the grass. Luckily he managed to control the bike and rejoin the race, but put him back into 6th. Not one to sit back, Connor fought his way back to the pack after losing 2 seconds on the lap, and the dicing began again. He managed to snatch second place from Costello on the last corner by a fraction of a second.

This result puts Connor joint 3rd in the championship and 2nd in the cup -a great start to the season.

Thanks go out to Maxton engineering, Motrac-racing, Vital:Signs of Northwich, C&K Contracts, and www.custom-paint.co.uk for all their help and support.

Photograph is courtesy of Darren Russell

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