Shropshire Star

Rutter and Bathams Racing get season back on track

Bathams Racing was finally able to get its campaign back on track following a month of accidents, uncertainty and injuries.

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Team manager Michael Rutter, from Bridgnorth, was forced to withdraw entirely from round two of the British Superbike series after his star rider, Richard Cooper, badly broke his leg following a horror crash during the opening round.

With reigning National Superstock 1000 champion Cooper out for the rest of the campaign, Rutter has since landed BSB star Dan Linfoot as a replacement rider for the remainder of the 2020 series.

Linfoot's first outing for Black Country-based Bathams Racing took place at Silverstone over the weekend.

Rutter opted to sit the entire weekend out so he could focus all his attention to Linfoot, rather than racing alongside his new team-mate in the same class.

After adapting to a new class, bike, tyres and regulations, Linfoot started race one in 12th.

Once the flag dropped, Linfoot had climbed to sixth and was challenging for fifth in the closing stages before running wide and dropping back to finish in 10th, 19 seconds behind the race winner.

Following more set up changes, Linfoot also started race two from the fourth row of the grid and was able to maintain a much faster pace for longer, finishing ninth, but this time just six seconds behind the first place.

The team is now looking forward to the next round at Oulton Park, with Linfoot hopefully benefiting from all the feedback and adjustments made at Silverstone.

Rutter said: “Obviously P10 and P9 isn't exactly a dazzling set of results on paper, but this weekend was all about getting Dan comfortable on the bike and up to speed, which we have absolutely achieved, so on balance I'm actually very satisfied with the weekend.

"Dan has slotted into the team really well, and we're all really looking forward to working with him for the next three rounds.

"We've now got tonnes of data and feedback from him that we didn't have this time last week, so I'm sure we'll make the bike even better for the next round.

"In other news, we are pleased to report Richard Cooper's recovery continues to go sufficiently well enough for him to be able to visit a pub – we hope he drank Bathams!"

Linfoot said he had really enjoyed his first race weekend with the Bathams Racing team.

"Between us we learned a massive amount about the bike," he said.

"I was especially pleased with my race pace in race two, but even so there's still a fairly long 'to do' list of things that we will be working through between now and Oulton Park – plus I'm going to be working on my starts!"

Meanwhile, Newport rider Harry Rowlings, 19, has confirmed he will not be competing in the British Supersport series, in the GP2 class, this year due to a lack of time on the new bike.

Rowlings, who has won multiple club racing titles, said: "With no testing or riding of the bike prior to the season and with members of the team being affected by Covid, we have taken the decision to not compete in the GP2 class this year in order to prepare and save some money to make next year easier.

"In the past week me and my dad, with the help of Steve Jordan Motorcycles, have managed to get enough spares to put a bike together.

"It’s not the best package but it's got me back out on a bike after 11 months being off one.

"Nothing to write home about but I've enjoying being back on a bike. After a few teething issues we’ve got it working well with standard suspension and no fuelling map in it.

"I'm looking forward to more track time and massive thanks to all my sponsors who have stuck with me through these hard times. It means a lot and I really appreciate it."

The British Superbike series and all its support classes return to action at Oulton Park, September 18-20.

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