Rob Guiver narrowly missed out on the Cup class podium in today’s Motorpoint British Supersport sprint race but consolidated his lead of the championship with 13 points for his fourth place finish. He still leads the championship by 56 points but Bjorn Estment has now moved up to second past Jake Dixon.
Guiver crossed the line 19th overall after a disaster qualifying in the morning. The session was red flagged and when Guiver came into the pits the team discovered an oil leak.
The Ace Cafe T3 Racing team rushed the Ace Cafe Racer back to the awning and managed to fix the leak before the end of the session but with only a couple of minutes left to spare.
Guiver was on the final sector of his out lap when the chequered flag came out but luckily his fastest time from before the red flag was within the 110% and he started from the back of the grid.
He got a good start to the race and overtook Shaun Winfield on the first lap. On the second Craig Neve came off right in front of Guiver and Winfield came through from behind passing both of them.
Guiver was determined to pass Winfield though and caught him again on lap five. He moved up to 22nd and began chasing his next target, Tommy Dale. Dean Hipwell had to stop due to a technical problem and on lap six he managed to pass Dale also.
Being stuck behind these riders had allowed Jake Newstead to put a gap of eight seconds between himself and Guiver. Since the rider from Essex was going a second a lap faster than Newstead he was able to close that gap without hassle.
Guiver was closing in by over a second each lap but it wasn’t quite enough to pass his competition. In the final lap he had closed the gap to 2.273 seconds but it wasn’t quite enough to make a move. However, Stuart Voskamp had dropped to 20th behind Newstead and Guiver passed him on lap twelve and finished in 19th.
Team manager Ricky Chadwick commented: “It was a great result after starting from the back of the grid. Rob rode fantastically and he’s really happy with the bike. It’s just a shame that Neve came off in front of him and gave Newstead a chance to get away from him.”
His lap time from Race 1 improved his qualifying position to 18th, making him the second fastest Cup rider and less than a tenth of a second behind the fastest, John Ingram, for Race 2.