Scotland and the Knockhill circuit played host to the latest round of the Hel Motostar British Championship at the weekend.
 
For Team ILR riders Vasco van der Valk and Joe Thomas it was another mixed weekend with van der Valk again producing two particularly strong rides.

From the very first practice and qualifying session the young Dutch lad, who was paying his first visit to Knockhill, was impressive.

Improving by over one second in the two sessions, Vasco finished the qualifying session just 1.39s off the pace to head Row 3 of the grid, with Joe also riding well to finish 12th, just under a second adrift to place him one row back.

Vasco was always in the hunt in the first race and was never out of the first six for the first half of the race and mixing it with 3  other riders for sixth place. Joe meanwhile was further down the field and had his hands full in the middle of a large group of riders.

The race took its toll on a few riders towards the end and this, combined with some determined riding, saw both riders finish an excellent 8th and 10th respectively.

The team were called into emergency action on Sunday morning when van der Valk was knocked off his bike during the morning warm-up, and they worked incredibly hard to get his bike ready for the second race.

Vasco re-paid the team for their hard work when he rode another brilliant race to finish a season best 7th, just 0.73s off a top six finish.  

For Joe however it was one to forget. Caught out in the damp conditions he crashed out on the first lap, breaking a finger and injuring his hand. Thankfully he wasn't seriously hurt and will be ready for the next round at Brands Hatch in two weeks time.




Ian Lougher Team ILR owner/manager:

''Another weekend of mixed fortunes for both lads, but both rode well once again. Vasco in particular produced two incredible rides when you consider he had never set eyes on the place before the weekend and thankfully Joe wasn't badly hurt after his Race 2 crash. The whole team worked hard over the weekend, particularly after Vasco was knocked off in warm-up. We now look forward to Brands Hatch in two weeks time.
Thanks again for all your support.''

Vasco van der Valk:

" A good weekend at Knockhill! I learned lots and Team ILR helped me so much! After a crash in the warm-up, I am so grateful to them for fixing my bike and I got 7th in the race!

So 8th and 7th is the best weekend so far! Thanks to the team and my sponsors!

Joe Thomas:

"So the weekend didn't go so bad, in the first race I had an awesome couple of battles and finished 10th, but in the second race I sadly fell off breaking my finger and injuring my hand, oh well bring on Brands!"