Centurion Honda's James Westmoreland took another fantastic podium in the British Supersport Championship at Croft yesterday.
The 20-year-old from Hull secured a brilliant second place in an epic race, where his main championship rival Ian Lowry crashed out in the closing stages of the re-started race. Dan Cooper gained a solid 15th position.
Westmoreland was second on the grid after being top of the qualifying table for the majority of the second session. Team-mate Dan Cooper rode well throughout the weekend and put his Centurion Honda in 10th place for the 18-lap scheduled race.
Westmoreland gained a good start and was in fourth place at the end of the opening lap with Cooper in 13th place. On lap six the race was red flagged after Ashley Beech crashed out into turn one and the race was cut short and re-started as a 10-lap sprint. On the re-start Westmoreland was third at the end of the opening lap and Cooper sat in 14th position.
Westy (as he shall be now known as I am fed up with typing Westmoreland or changing it from Westy - ED) was hunting down Lowry on the Suzuki, when the Irishman tucked the front going into the complex section. taking evasive action; Westy swerved to miss Lowry and was soon trying to hunt down race leader Richards.
The youngster was unable to get the better of the very experienced Richards and he took a stunning second place result for the Centurion team, also moving him 16-points adrift of third place in the Championship.
An extremely happy Westy said "I'm so happy with the result that I got today. The Centurion Honda was brilliant throughout the weekend and I managed to get everything out of it that I needed to.
"Glen rode brilliantly and all credit goes to him, I've managed to close down on Lowry in the Championship standings and the gap is now 16-points and we have two rounds to go. I'd like to thank everyone who has supported me and the entire Centurion Honda team for all their help. I hope we can end the season on a high note at Silverstone and Brands."
A disheartened Cooper said "I'm really disappointed with the result that I got today and I was hoping to be higher up in the race. I was doing ok in the initial part of the race and then on the restart I got blocked into the first turn and had to make up a lot of ground.
"I had a problem with my number one bike in warm up and had to go out on the spare bike, which I've never ridden in the dry before, it's really down on power so I'm pleased I managed to get into the top 15. I'm still having a few problems with my shoulder, which I should be getting operated on at the end of the season. I'm just gutted that I didn't finish with a top ten result but hopefully things will improve at the last two rounds."
