Honda TT Legends stand-in rider Glen Richards helped his squad a provisional top-ten spot on the Doha Eight-Hours grid for Saturday's race, sticking in the fourth-fastest lap of 2'02.302 as his team-mate John McGuinness and Keith Amor get to grisp with a track they haven't seen before.
British Superbike Evo Champion Richards, who has raced at the desert circuit before, is a little under two seconds off the pace but it is the combined times from all the riders that decide the provisional grid slots ahead of tomorrow's final qualifying.
It’s actually gone really well today. I had a feeling it would because I really like the race track here and even though I haven’t ridden this actual bike before, I’ve been riding the CBR1000RR model for the last three years so I’m very familiar with it," said Richards, who is standing in for Cameron Donald. The Aussie broke his wrist falling down the stairs just before he was due to fly out from Melbourne.
"On top of that, the Dunlop tyres suit my riding style really well so all in all I’ve been able to adapt pretty quickly. I feel at home with the team as it partly the old Phase One team I rode for in ’07 and partly the Honda team I rode for in ’09 so I know everybody. It’s nice and I’m really enjoying myself."
