The Gloucester-based Smiths Triumph Racing Team endured a tough weekend at Brands Hatch in round six of the Motorpoint British Supersport Championship with both Australians Billy McConnell and Glen Richards not scoring a podium, indeed a pair of seventh places being the best results possible for 26-year-old Adelaide rider McConnell in both races.

With the two races both being held today instead of over the usual two days, it was a busy Sunday for the team as the action got underway in the morning with the 10-lap Sprint race. Whilst the battle for the race win was red hot, Billy and Glen found themselves fighting it out for the lower leaderboard positions although there was never more than two seconds covering the top nine riders, but in the end McConnell had to settle for seventh and 39-year-old defending champion Richards ninth at the end of a hectic race.

The longer 16-lap race later in the day followed a similar vein although this time the leading riders opened up a larger gap over the rest of the field. Locked together, there was little to choose between Billy and Glen, who was still recovering from the shoulder injuries sustained at Knockhill a month ago, but they could make little impression on the leading trio and this time they crossed the line in seventh and eighth places respectively.

Billy McConnell:

"It's been a frustrating weekend and certainly not the dominant one we wanted. Everyone in the team's been working so hard and we're just not reaping the benefits at the moment. Glen's obviously been injured and I've been trying to do a lot of the development work and it's tough but we're consistently the highest placed, fastest Triumphs out there. We'll keep our heads down, keep working hard and come back stronger next time."

Glen Richards:

"I'm getting fitter and stronger all the time but it's frustrating that I'm still not quite as strong as I would have liked. There are a lot of uphill braking areas here and that puts a lot of pressure on the shoulder so I simply haven't been able to pass anyone on the brakes. We're still learning the bike and there's certainly more to come but I'd say this weekend the issue has been 90% me and 10% the bike. We've got a three-week break now so I'll be stronger then as will the bike so we'll give it our all there."

Rebecca Smith:

"It's been a bit of a puzzling weekend for us and we've had a few issues that we haven't really been able to pinpoint on the new Triumph Daytona 675R. We've worked really hard since Snetterton, continuing with the development of the bikes but something's not quite been right with the engine management system and no matter what we've tried we haven't got to the bottom of it. On the plus side, both riders finished both races and Glen's close to full fitness so it hasn't been all bad. We'll never stop developing the bike this season but we'll go away and regroup again and find out what's been happening this weekend. Oulton Park is a strong circuit for both riders so we'll work hard to keep their confidence up and give them a bike to challenge for higher finishes."


Despite the disappointing results, McConnell retained his fourth place in the series with Richards climbing one place to sixth in the standings going into the next round at Oulton Park on August 9/11th.

Motorpoint British Supersport Championship Race 1 - 10 laps

1 Stuart Easton (Yamaha)
2 Alastair Seeley (Kawasaki)
3 Ben Wilson (Kawasaki)
4 Graeme Gowland (Yamaha)
5 Jason O'Halloran (Honda)
6 Jake Dixon (Yamaha)
7 Billy McConnell (Smiths Racing Triumph)
9 Glen Richards (Smiths Racing Triumph)

Motorpoint British Supersport Championship Race 2 - 16 laps

1 Alastair Seeley (Kawasaki)
2 Stuart Easton (Yamaha)
3 Graeme Gowland (Yamaha)
4 Ben Wilson (Kawasaki)
5 Jason O'Halloran (Honda)
6 Jake Dixon (Yamaha)
7 Billy McConnell (Smiths Racing Triumph)
8 Glen Richards (Smiths Racing Triumph)

Championship standings (after six rounds)

1 Seeley 250pts
2 Easton 210
3 Wilson 189
4 McConnell 170
5 Gowland 138
6 Richards 80

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