Round 10 of the 2009 MCE British Superbike Championships, at Croft in North Yorkshire, lived up to its reputation by providing the packed crowd with thrilling racing action round the highly demanding and technical 2.173 mile former bomber airfield this weekend (11-13 September).

Leicestershire-based Team Co-ordit, making its debut at the circuit, had a tall order ahead of them with no previous set-up data available. Strong performances by all three riders throughout Free Practice and Qualifying were rewarded with a string of point-scoring results. Richard Cooper, fresh from World Superbike duty onboard the BMW Factory machine, slotted back into the National Superstock 1000 fold, with new teammate Michael Howard making the switch from the Superbike class to arguably the most closely fought championship in the series.

In what has been described by many of the riders, the Superstock race proved to be one of the most thrilling adverts for the sport in recent memory with both Co-ordit riders playing their parts to the full in order to add more championship points to their season totals. Cooper, racing at Croft for the first time in five years, fought for 15 laps with Jenkinson, as he looked to strengthen his grasp on third in the championship. However, his hold in the title race slipped due a last corner incident that saw Steve Brogan's late brake attempt force both himself and 2009 champion Alastair Seeley to clash and run wide. Cooper's closest rival, John McGuinness, swooped to steal victory ending Seeley's monopoly of 9 straight race wins.

The Fuchs-Silkolene British Supersport race followed suit with another remarkable display of hard passes and furious paced action throughout its 18-laps. With Sam Lowes embroiled in a 6- way battle for a top ten position, a Robbie Brown crash saw the deployment of the safety car on lap 6, allowing the field to bunch up. On the restart three laps later, Lowes fought hard for the second half of the race to finish in 14th, taking the chequered flag for the 7th time this season in the Supersport Cup. With his closest rivals - Brown and Hipwell - crashing out, Lowes looked toextend his championship lead ahead of the penultimate round at Silverstone in two weeks time.

Podium celebrations followed but a steward enquiry into Sam's Co-ordit Performance Honda saw the Lincolnshire rider disqualified from the final race results on an engine technicality. The 18-year old will not be lining up at the Northamptonshire circuit due to World Supersport duty, and will be fired up as he looks to clinch the Supersport Cup title at the season finale at Oulton Park in October.

Richard Cooper: "A hard weekend from start to finish with it being five years since I last raced at Croft. We have been playing catch-up all weekend, which is not the best position to be in especially at such a technical circuit. I'm pleased with 7th under the circumstances and confident of regaining third over the final two rounds."

Sam Lowes: "I was happy with winning the Cup race and getting within a few points of winning the Championship as I will miss Silverstone due to World duty. Those feelings evaporated when we learned that I had been disqualified. I feel very let down for the whole team as we worked hard all weekend to

get into a strong position, and the technicality that I was disqualified was not of our making. My bike is not the fastest out there, but I will use Croft to my advantage as it has fired me up to pull me on at Oulton."

Pete Bradshaw: "It's our first time at Croft so we had to play catch up with the set-up this weekend. The whole team did a magnificent job but the results didn't show a true reflection of that. Richard has slipped a place from 3rd to 4th but feels confident that he can reclaim it in the final two rounds. Sam Lowes, after racing hard all weekend had the result taken away due to an infringement of the regulation relating to the cams being 0.1mm out! We will be taking the matter up with his engine builder. Michael 'Howie' Howard asked for a ride on one of our spare R1s and it was great to have him in

the team, but again the results failed to justify the efforts made by all. We head off to compete in the final club rounds next weekend before returning to BSB at Silverstone."

Metzeler National Superstock 1000 Championship

Result:

1. McGuinness, 2. Smart, 3. Seeley, 4. Brogan, 5. Johnson, 7. COOPER, 15. HOWARTH

Championship Points:

1. Seeley - 241 (2009 Champion), 2. Brogan - 160, 3. McGuinness - 128, 4. COOPER - 120, 5. Jenkinson - 94

Fuchs-Silkolene British Supersport Championship

Result:

1. Plater, 2. McConnell, 3. Wilson, 4. Westmoreland, 5. Hutchinson, DQ LOWES

Supersport Cup Championship Points

1. LOWES - 183, 2. Brown - 170, 3. Hipwell - 151, 4. Ward - 104, 5. Cringle - 86

WWW.TEAMCO-ORDIT.COM

Report - Shippey PR

Richard Cooper

© PK Photo Media

Sam Lowes

© PK Photo Media

Michael Howarth

© PK Photo Media