LIAM DELVES endured a roller coaster weekend at Oulton Park where he was competing in round two of the Bennetts British Superbike championship.
He improved his personal best lap times and also rode for the first time in wet conditions on the Rapid Training Rapid CDH Racing Kawasaki Superbike fuelled by Cheshire Mouldings and Woodturnings.
In free practice, the Solihull rider was able to better his personal best lap time by half a second which was an achievement in itself given he was running on old tyres.
And Delves found another 0.9 seconds in the next session as he went into qualifying with renewed confidence.
Unfortunately, the weather took a turn for the worse and Delves found himself riding in the wet for the first time on the Superbike.
Delves said: “Well that was my first time in the wet and was an experience! I only managed to complete four laps, most of which was completely sideways due to the 240BHP on the bike.
“My team put a great wet setup together for me to feel comfortable in the sketchy conditions.”
The first race on Sunday was the 14-lap Sprint race and on lap seven Delves recorded yet another personal best lap time of 1 minute 38.293 secs and was on track to move forward from 30th position when the red flag brought the race to an early end at 11 laps distance.
Delves added: “Even though I was struggling with arm pump I managed to complete race one and find a big chunk of time, setting another personal best lap time.
“A big thank you to all my team for giving me a mega set up and making me feel comfortable on the bike and a special thank you to Niall Mackenzie for coming to see me and giving me some good advice and support.”
Race two was going well for Delves who moved up into 26th place and once again posted a new personal best lap time of 1 min 37.903 secs but on the final lap he slid off into the gravel and didn’t take the chequered flag.
Race three ended on the first lap for the 21-year-old rookie as the bike developed a fault causing him to withdraw.
He said: “That was not the ending we wanted as I was forced to pull over on lap one with a technical issue, but there are so many positives to take away from the weekend and I am learning so much every time I ride the Rapid Training Rapid CDH Racing Kawasaki Fuelled by Cheshire Mouldings and Woodturnings Ltd.
“I set a personal best lap time in every session and am getting closer to the fight, once again a big thank you to all my team for a great weekend, all my personal sponsors and everyone for their support.
“We have a three-week break now before I head to Donington Park for round three on my home track over the weekend of May 20/22.”
