Eugene McManus battled poor weather conditions in Saturday’s British Supersport Sprint Race to take fifth spot at the flag. The Completely Motorbikes / Affinity Sports Academy rider then took a tenth place in the Feature Race on Sunday.
Qualifying
Over the two free practice sessions Eugene McManus improved his lap time by 6-tenths of a second to end Friday in 11th spot.
Eugene wnet directly into Q2 and the Completely Motorbikes / Affinity Sports Academy Triumph was quickly up to speed. The Randalstwon rider managed to qualify eleventh on the grid for the Sprint Race on Saturday afternoon.
Sprint Race (10-laps)
Before the race the rain began to fall in Kent and it continued throughout the ten-lap Sprint Race. Forty riders took to the rain-soaked track. In difficult conditions the were to be several non-finishers.
Eugene McManus made a sensibly cautious start climbing to tenth by the end of lap two. By the halfway stage he was circulating in 7th position with Irwin ahead and Stapleford behind. The number 15 managed to cross the finish line in an excellent fifth place.
Feature Race (16-laps)
For Sunday’s Feature Race, the weather changed completely. The rain clouds were gone, the sun was out and the track was dry. Eugene McManus would start the second race of the weekend from 8th on the grid.
In the opening exchanges, Eugene moved up to 7th position. Initially battling with the experienced Stapleford, Eugene went on to battle hard with Van Sikkelerus over 9th and 10th spot for the second part of the race. Eugene McManus finally crossed the line in 10th position.
Eugene said, “This weekend I struggled in the dry but in the wet felt a bit more comfortable. We worked hard to try and find something in the dry conditions but feel we took a backward step for the 2nd race but this is all trial and error and I look forward to thruxton and know the hard work will pay off.”
