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The penultimate round of the R&G Racing Suzuki GSX-R600 Trophy took place at Castle Combe with the round running over two races on aggregated points. Once again the man to beat was Ross Connolly who picked up both wins and the Stamford Superbikes Fastest lap award.
Chris Hawkes returned to the Championship for the first time since he crashed at Donington Park sustaining a broken wrist. Despite being in some pain he still managed to grab pole position from Connolly with a time 1min 17.68secs, gaining the pole position award.
In the first race Hawkes got a superb start and Connolly got a shockingly bad one. This allowed Hawkes to lead for the early part of the race, however once Connolly got his head down he reeled in Hawkes and passed him for the race win. The third step on the podium went to Duncan Bedwell who has been improving his riding skills through out the season and is now knocking on the door.
The second race saw Connolly simply get away and lead Hawkes over the line, with William Sawyer in third giving him his first podium finish of the season. He won the Express Insurance Top Novice award for his podium finish while Hawkes got the Relentless Rider of the day award for his double podium finish whilst recovering from a broken wrist.
Connolly said: “I couldn’t believe how bad my start was in the first one and in race two I really struggled with grip plus it is dead bumpy round here. I really enjoyed the meeting and I want to thank all my sponsors and friends who have helped me out this weekend.”
Hawkes said: “I’m over the moon to be back racing as I’ve missed it due to being out of action with my broken wrist. I’m now really looking forward to Oulton Park to get racing again.”
Sawyer said: “I’ve had a great time and I’m chuffed to be on the podium. I’ve won the Relentless award and the Express Novice award but it is special to be on the podium.”
The final round of the R&G Racing Suzuki GSX-R Trophy will take place at Oulton Park in Cheshire on Saturday 19th September.
Race one
1. Ross Connolly
2. Chris Hawkes
3. Duncan Bedwell
4. William Sawyer
5. Paul Rogers
6. Nikki Wilson
7. Wayne Crossman
Race two
1. Ross Connolly
2. Chris Hawkes
3. William Sawyer
4. Paul Rogers
5. Nikki Wilson
6. Wayne Crossman
DNF. Duncan Bedwell
Overall result
1. Ross Connolly
2. Chris Hawkes
3. William Sawyer
4. Paul Rogers
5. Nikki Wilson
6. Wayne Crossman
7. Duncan Bedwell
Championship standings
1. Ross Connolly 220
2. Mark Cheetham 157
3. Ross Richards 128
4. Paul Rogers 98
5. Duncan Bedwell 92
6. William Sawyer 90
7. Chris Hawkes 83
8. Nicky Wilson 62
9. Tim Sayers 43
10. Richard Steadman 42
For the full points table click here.