The Splitlath Redmond team return home after a solid start to the 2012 MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch, despite the postponement of the second race.

Rider John Laverty scored an 18th place finish in his comeback race, while series newcomer Florian Marino was unlucky to have a coming together with another rider in the opening lap, crashing out of the race.

For Laverty it was a big milestone in his comeback trail to complete his first race since his huge crash last July.

“It definitely feels good to get that one out of the way and it wasn’t a bad race for me,” he said. “I just wanted to get a full race distance to get some good data and look to which areas we need to work on. “It felt nice being back out there and I think we have learnt a lot from the race. It would’ve been nice to have a second stab of it, but safety always comes first and I think the decision to postpone the second race was absolutely the correct one.”

Marino meanwhile, had been keen to make an impression in his BSB debut. Starting from 20th on the grid he made a flying start, making up several places. But he had a collision with the WFR bike of Graeme Gowland in the opening lap, crashing out and hurting his arm.

However this did nothing to curb his enthusiasm. “I am okay, it was one of those things I guess. I was upset that my first race ended like this but I am happy with my start and I think it could have been a good race for me had I not had this collision.”

Both had been determined to make an even bigger impression in this afternoon’s second race, until it was cancelled due to track contamination following a crash in the earlier Motorpoint British Supersport Championship race.

Team co-owner John Dimbylow praised both of his riders.

“John has done an incredible job here today,” he said. “His recovery progress is almost unbelievable, and he rode a good, solid race. I’m looking forward to see how far he can progress at Thruxton next weekend.

“As for Florian, well it’s been a tough weekend for him but he’s stuck at it and has really improved. He made a fantastic start and was right up to about 13th when he was taken down, and even though his arm was bleeding and clearly very sore, all he wanted to do was bandage it up and go out for the second race.”

Co-owner Derek Redmond added:

“It’s been an interesting opening round, and I think everyone has done a brilliant job. It’s a new team, the riders are new and everyone is working incredibly hard to make it work.

“Florian was unlucky but he’ll bounce back stronger – he was desperate to make amends in the second race. John was brilliant. He rode sensibly and kept a cool head when a lot of others crashed out. We’re all happy with how the whole team has performed. Bring on Round Two!”


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