Daily Star Cup rider Chris Burns was rewarded for two determined rides at
Oulton Park with a double podium during the latest rounds of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship.
The STP Motorsport rider qualified third in class and 20th on the grid in mixed weather conditions at the Cheshire circuit and was then forced to take the restart of race one from the pitlane after the team didn't have quite enough time to get the wet set-up on the bike sorted before the pitlane closed.
Despite that, Burns produced a series of quick laps on his MV Augusta during the race to come through the field to finish second amongst the Cup runners having run out of laps to try and close in on eventual class winner Steve Mercer.
An incident off the startline in race two left Burns once again fighting back as the race progressed, but a series of fast laps meant that he was able to take a second podium of the day in third place – leaving him second in the Cup standings in the process.
“Not having the front slick at the end of the qualifying session certainly made a big difference to our qualifying position,” he said afterwards. “However, our free practice times gave us the confidence that we had the pace for the races. If I hadn't been forced to start from the pit lane in race one, the bike ‘bogging down' on the start line in race two, I know I could have finished higher in both races.
“At the beginning of the season if somebody had said we would get three podiums from four starts it would have taken some believing. However, the team is working hard and we are benefiting from that effort. As a racer, though, you always want to improve and having tasted the podium again, after such a long time, I want to be stood on the top step as soon as possible. It will happen.”
Team manager Warwick Nowland was delighted with the results at Oulton Park as the team continues to work on developing the MV Augusta to take the fight to its rivals.
