Centurion Honda's Tom Grant and Dan Coopr had a steady start at the opening round of the Fuchs-Silkolene British Supersport Championship securing 11th and 12th places respectively in the 25-lap race at Brands Hatch.
 
The two riders have been setting consistent times over the three days of practice and qualifying sessions in the mixed Easter weekend weather at Brands. Cooper and Grant have settled in well to what is now set to be a very competitive and exciting year in the British Supersport class.
 
During the wet qualifying session on Saturday the riders both struggled to gain a good bike set up and Grant was placed in 17th and Cooper in 25th. Sunday saw a dry qualifying session and both Centurion riders managed to improve drastically on their position and they finally qualified in 11th, Grant and 13th Cooper.
 
At the short Brands Hatch Indy track it was an open field to how the results would pan out and both Centurion Honda riders got bad starts and Grant was in 15th and Cooper a low 17th after the opening lap. Digging deep they gradually made their way through the pack passing various riders and both were soon locked in a tight battle for seventh place.
 
As the race progressed the two Centurion runners began to struggle with rear grip as they came onto the start finish straight out of Clearways onto Clark Curve, which lost them time on the pack in front. The pair pushed hard in the closing stages of the race but were only able to bring the two Centurion bikes home in 11th and 12th place.
 
"I've had a few problems over the weekend trying to get the suspension set up correctly but with the ever changing weather conditions it was hard to do a full race simulation over the practice and qualifying sessions," said Grant.

"I had a small oil leak during warm up and just had to hope the bike would be good for the race. I got a bad start and had to work hard to make up time which in turn meant I pushed hard on the tyres and lost a bit of grip in the closing stages. Hopefully things will be better at Oulton Park."
 
Cooper added: "I was really looking forward to getting the season off to a good start but I wasn't able to get into the top ten, which would have been my ideal. Testing has been going really well and I was feeling confident as I headed into the race but I got a shocking start and got swallowed up into turn-one, I was 17th at the end of the first lap and really not happy with myself.

:I pushed really hard to catch up and latched onto the riders in front for seventh place but I was losing time coming out of Clark Curve and just wasn't able to stay with them and make a pass. I like Oulton Park and hope the pair of us will be able to get some good results there."