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Bradley Perie took two superbly timed wins in totally different circumstances at Donington Park today to fire up his British Supersport campaign, as Harry Truelove impressed with his late race form to battle through for a pair of thirds for Appleyard Macadam Yamaha.
Friday saw showers throughout the day at the legendary long-time Grand Prix circuit, yet the riders of the Quattro Group Supersport Championship managed to get lucky with their sessions being dry. Brad immediately got into his groove with the second fastest time in FP1 and FP2 whilst Harry took P5 and then P3 in the two sessions.
Qualifying was as usual held a few hours before Saturday’s Sprint Race, giving teams plenty of logistical challenges. The well oiled YZF-R6 squad timed their runs well to ensure they weren’t baulked for fast laps, resulting in two row qualifications as Brad lined up yet again next to pole man and great rival Jack Kennedy with Harry in third.
The Sprint race started with a strong pace but a serious accident meant the red flags were deployed and the race delayed for a substantial amount of time. The race distance was decreased to 16 laps and Brad set about learning from the veteran Kennedy to work out a race strategy. Brad closed in on the final two laps but left his move until the very corner, outbraking and then out-dragging Kennedy for his first win of the season!
Harry got boxed out in the opening laps and didn’t feature much in the TV coverage until the final moment as he scythed past TT star Lee Johnston for the final podium place, making it two Appleyard riders up on the gantry.
Sunday’s 24 lap was a tense affair as three-time Champion Kennedy was clearly looking for revenge as he stalked Brad for the entire fatigue inducing, tyre punishing race! Despite his best efforts, Jack couldn’t find a way past Brad as he tried the mirror image of the previous day’s drama.
For Harry it was an exciting flag to flag battle with Johnston and ex-Champion Luke Stapleford as he also managed to get the better of these experienced competitors for another well-deserved podium.
After Brad’s first round double DNF, this successful weekend puts him and Harry within striking distance of second place in the standings ahead of the next round, Knockhill in Scotland.
Jack KENNEDY (Yamaha) 140
Lee JOHNSTON (Yamaha) 100
Harry TRUELOVE (Yamaha) 90
Bradley PERIE (Yamaha) 86
Bradley Perie explained; “We got the season going at Oulton and then stepped it up and really enjoyed ourselves here, which is really what’s its all supposed to be about anyway.
We’ve been fast all weekend, the first race was a bit of a scrap and today felt really long, I was trying to stay consistent with my laptimes and racing my pitboard. I’m chuffed as its my first double since Knockhill, which is great as that’s where we’re off to next.”
Harry Truelove said, “Overall I’m really happy with the weekend, obviously two not great starts meant I had to go for it, our mid-race pace was really strong and we managed to manoeuvre the backmarkers well. So I’m pleased to get two podiums, decent points and make good progress!”
Team Owner Robin Appleyard said, “It was a great effort all weekend long, the riders and the whole team deserve these cracking results. Brad is in top form and there’s nothing between him and Jack at the moment. The way he outfoxed such an experienced rider was impressive, he followed and learnt in race one and then today he kept up such a relentless pace.
It was nice to see Harry with two podiums especially after two poor starts, he really had to work for those and also logged two very strong last laps.”
