Tough tyre choices for the Barnes race brothers
Preston racers Freddie and Charlie Barnes were at round eight of the ZYN British Superbike championship at the weekend. Held at the undulating circuit of Cadwell Park near Louth.
Free practice sessions started the Bank Holiday weekend off on Saturday with Freddie placed at P16 for the combined times over two sessions. Charlie who has very little experience at the circuit was placed at P29 over the two sessions.
Next up was qualifying and Freddie aboard his Sencat Racing Triumph 765 put himself on the fifth row in P15 on the grid for the first of his two races over the weekend. Charlie who was improving his times over every session put his Sencat Racing Aprilia 660 on the grid in P29, row 10.
The first of Freddie's races would be the Supersport 'Sprint' race held over 12 laps. He didn't get the best of starts and dropped to P19 on the first lap. As the race progressed he would make his was up to a points scoring P12 and with his fastest lap he put the Triumph on the grid for race 2 in P15.
Charlie's only race was the first race on Sunday morning and rain had threatened all weekend. A shower just before the race gave him some tough choices with a drying track but with wet patches around the track. Unfortunately he made the wrong choice and that was the end of his race.
Race two later that afternoon and it was the Supersport 'Feature' race for Freddie. In a similar scenario to Charlie's race earlier rain showers gave Freddie and the Sencat Racing team the tyre choice headache. It was the wrong choice of tyre for him but he held out and came home just outside the points in P18. Freddie said: "Shame about today as I’ve been going well all weekend, but with rain in the air it made us make the wrong tyre choice, which meant just ticking off the laps and bringing it back home"
No race at the next round for Charlie but the Sencat team will be travelling to the Netherlands in a few weeks for Round 10 at the TT Circuit Assen, held over the weekend of September 18/19.