Points at Phillip Island for Gowla
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The reigning Spanish Supersport Champion Graeme Gowland got his 2008 season firmly underway on Sunday by scoring his first points of the season at the famous Phillip Island circuit in Australia. Gowla was close to finishing in the top 10 at the opening round of the World Supersport Championship at Qatar last weekend but failed to finish after a crash but he didn’t put a wheel wrong this time round and walked away with points on the scoreboard.
A startling performance in qualifying saw Gowla qualify just 1.8 seconds off pole setter Andrew Pitt, a former World Supersport Champion and Moto GP rider, on this his first visit to the coastal circuit and only 0.5 seconds off compatriot Craig Jones. The 1:36.457 lap time he had set in the second qualifying session would see him line up on the 5th row of the grid in 20th on his Benjan Racing Honda ahead of Barry Veneman and Matthieu Lagrive, who finished 6th and 5th respectively in Qatar.
The lights went out to signal the start of the 21 lap Supersport race, which was held in sunny and windy conditions, but Gowla made a slow getaway and was engulfed into the pack. The end of the first lap saw him down in 23rd but he pushed hard the following lap to move through the field and up to 18th, setting his fastest lap of the race in the process.
Gowla battled it out with Gregory Leblanc over the next few laps before getting the upper hand on the 5th lap, when he also overhauled his team mate Vesa Kallio. By the 8th lap the Brit was up to 13th after passing the experienced Ivan Clementi on the Triumph 675 and fans favourite Chris ‘Stalker’ Walker.
As the race entered its final third Gowla began to reel in the two riders ahead- podium finisher Craig Jones and Aussie Mark Aitchison- and was on Jones’ back wheel by lap 15 before making a move on him on the next lap to move up to 12th. A few laps later and he was just outside the top 10 but the race was not over yet and the final two laps saw Gowla in a three rider battle for 11th with Clementi and Aitchison.
Gowla was planning a move for the final lap but he was unable to carryout the pass as the BE 1 Racing team mates Clementi and Aitchison were swapping paintwork at that particular turn. So he crossed the finish line in an impressive 13th- ahead of Walker, Kallio and Jones- to score three points, which places him 20th in the championship.
Graeme Gowland:
“I am really pleased with today’s result as I scored points and on a circuit that was new to me. We made a good choice with the set up for the race and this really helped my tyres to last the distance so a big thank you to all the Benjan Racing Team.”
Graeme will be testing at the Spanish circuit of Valencia for two days in the official test on the 13th and 14th March in preparation for the next round of the Championship at that circuit on April 6th.
Race Result
- 1 Pitt 21 laps
- 2 Brookes +0.062
- 3 Harms +0.597
- 4 Foret +0.780
- 5 Rea +0.976
- 6 McCoy +1.228
- 13 GOWLAND +16.526
Championship Standings
- 1 Brookes 33
- 2 Lascorz 29
- 3 Pitt 25
- 4 Parkes 25
- 5 Harms 25
- 6 Jones 16
- 20 GOWLAND 03
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March 5th, 2008 at 11:10 am
Well done a good result, great to see another Brit doing well on the World scene, good luck for the rest of 2008 we will be watching and supporting you all the way