After a hectic first Ducati 848 Challenge race of the weekend, Ben Field rode his bikesportnews.com/Vito Sport-entered Bologna bullet finished in fourth. The race was stopped early due an oil spill across 75 per cent of the Brands Indy circuit so we caught up with Ben and asked him on how he felt the dramatic race went.
“I got a fantastic start from seventh and shot straight up to second by the first corner. I got swamped going into Druids though as two riders went either side of me. Then at Graham Hill Bend about five or six guys went down around me and I managed to avoid it all luckily, so by the time the safety car came out I was in third.
“As the safety car came in I dropped down to fifth and someone in front of me had their engine go and there was oil everywhere. As I tipped into Paddock Hill, I pulled the brakes and the bike just went. I let the brakes go and let it wander but I had to stop it so pulled the brakes again and it wanted to chuck me off again but I let it go wide and held it on my knee.
“Overall I was quite disappointed because as the red flags came out I was in third but of course it went back a lap and I ended up fourth. There was definitely a podium on the cards but there’s always tomorrow for that whether it’s sunny or raining.”
Ducati 848 Challenge race one - conditions wet
1 121 Mike EDWARDS Ducati - Ohlins P&H Motorcycles 6 6:08.096 70.88 55.040 5
2 4 Dijon COMPTON Ducati - Boast Plumbing Supplies 6 6:09.870 1.774 1.774 70.54 54.833 6
3 50 Mike DAWSON Ducati - md-racing.co.uk 6 6:10.524 2.428 0.654 70.41 55.321 6
4 848 Ben FIELD Ducati - bikesportnews.com/Vito Sport VIP 6 6:10.754 2.658 0.230 70.37 56.190 6
5 34 Robbie BROWN Ducati - Ducati Manchester DMC Racing 6 6:11.773 3.677 1.019 70.18 56.247 5
6 43 James FOLKARD Ducati - Minards Pavlou Solicitors/Ducati Manchester 6 6:12.164 4.068 0.391 70.10 56.185 5
78 Ed SMITH Ducati - Ultim8 Racing 6 6:12.562 4.466 0.398 70.03 55.737 6
8 69 Peter HASLER Ducati - Boast Plumbing / Art of Racing 6 6:13.511 5.415 0.949 69.85 56.543 6
9 148 Nicky WILSON Ducati - Demon Designs UK Ducati 6 6:13.725 5.629 0.214 69.81 56.892 5
10 55 Ricky HOLDEN Ducati - Holden Racing 6 6:17.276 9.180 3.551 69.15 57.762 6
11 99 Ryan MYLER Ducati - Close Brothers Asset Finance 6 6:17.429 9.333 0.153 69.12 57.346 6
12 77 Stuart POYSER Ducati - P&H Motorcycles 6 6:17.606 9.510 0.177 69.09 56.914 6
13 45 Woolsey COULTER Ducati - Quelch Racing/woolsey coulter 6 6:18.342 10.246 0.736 68.96 57.851 6
14 38 Scot ADAM Ducati - Quelch Racing 6 6:18.919 10.823 0.577 68.85 57.992 6
15 11 Steven JORDAN Ducati - Global Robots / Steve Jordan Motorcycles 6 6:19.915 11.819 0.996 68.67 56.978 5
16 58 Byron BECKETT Ducati - SAS Racing 6 6:20.096 12.000 0.181 68.64 56.465 5
17 29 Mark LISTER Ducati - LCS OD2 Racing 6 6:20.287 12.191 0.191 68.61 57.694 5
18 95 Ryan GIBSON Ducati - Frame Fast / Motorsolve 6 6:20.319 12.223 0.032 68.60 56.499 5
19 14 Jack KEEN Ducati - Havoc Racing 6 6:20.483 12.387 0.164 68.57 57.735 5
20 24 Barry POLL Ducati - Pumpkin Patch Racing 6 6:26.121 18.025 5.638 67.57 57.872 6
21 7 Dan CRUICKSHANK Ducati - Pumpkin Patch Racing 6 6:27.215 19.119 1.094 67.38 58.979 6
22 10 Sean NEARY Ducati - Motocorse UK Racing 4 5:28.868 2 laps 2 laps 52.89 1:01.126 3
NOT CLASSIFIED
DNF 177 Marty NUTT Ducati - NuttTravel.com 6 6:09.404 1.308 70.63 54.513 6
DNF 63 James WHITE Ducati - Team Afterdark 6 6:10.998 2.902 1.594 70.32 56.263 6
DNF 73 Sarah JORDAN Ducati - Global Robots / Steve Jordan Motorcycles 6 6:23.606 15.510 12.608 68.01 58.510 6
DNF 28 Ben BROADWAY Ducati - BBR 0
DNF 48 Darren FRY Ducati - Hirebase Ducati Coventry 0
DNF 51 Jamie POOLE Ducati - Moto Rapido 0
DNF 66 Kasey WYATT Ducati - GBmoto Racing 0
DNF 81 Aaron BROWN Ducati - Joda Clothing - Ducati 0
DNF 90 Sam COVENTRY Ducati - Moto Rapido 0
DNF 159 Ben COPE Ducati - Ducati Manchester 0
