Sunday 25th July 2006

EMS Racing take strong race results after tough weekend in Brno

After being denied the chance of a front row qualifying position due to an untimely rain shower, the two man EMS Racing team shrugged off their lowly grid positions to secure strong race results in the fifth round of the Superstock 1000 FIM Cup in Brno. South African Sheridan Morais climbed from 22ndon the grid to claim a point scoring 13th place finish, whilst team mate Mark Pollock went from 31st spot up into the top twenty before a collision on the final lap dropped him to 25th place.
 
The EMS Racing team were desperate to secure strong results at the circuit after being on the pace all weekend around the fast and flowing 5.403 KM Brno track in the Czech Republic. The scheduled 12 lap race was due to take place at 10.40am on Sunday morning but due to a number of incidents in the Superbike warm-up and one aborted start of the Superstock race, the team didn’t get to start the shortened 7 lap race until nearly 5pm.
 
Starting from the sixth row of the grid, 21 year old Sheridan held his position off the line, but quickly began to make his way up through the field picking up two places on lap one and a further three places on lap two. Unfortunately due to the 34 degree temperatures, the EMS Racing Suzuki GSXR1000 began to overheat which caused the bike to lose power. Despite this Sheridan didn’t let off and after an intense battle with Silverstone race winner Claudio Corti, Sheridan won through to secure 13th place.
 
“That was a really tough race. I was battling all the way through and I spent the whole race fighting for position. When the bike started to over heat it made life even more difficult and I was having to push even harder through the corners to make up for the lack of speed on the straights.  It’s been a frustrating weekend all in all. We knew the pace we could run here as we’ve been as fast as the leaders all weekend but it just didn’t work out on the day.” explained Sheridan.
 
Irishman, Mark Pollock continued to get to grips with the powerful EMS Racing Suzuki GSXR1000 at Brno and despite struggling with front tyre grip, rode a strong race and was unlucky to miss out on a top twenty finish. After battling his way up from 31st on the grid, 22 year old, Mark was fighting for 19th place before a final lap collision with Kawasaki rider Saltarelli saw both riders crash into the gravel. Mark showed his determination by picking up the bike and getting to the finish line to take the chequered flag in 25th position.
 
“Because of the rain in both our qualifying sessions we just didn’t have enough time to get the bike set-up for such a fast open track. We made some big changes after the morning warm-up, which helped, but I was just pushing the front of the bike all race long and it just wanted to tuck. This track really rewards smooth riding but it was hard to do that because I was always in a group fighting for position. All in all I’ve learned a lot, it’s just a shame I had the crash on the last lap as it would have been a good top twenty result.” said Mark.
 
The next round of the Superstock 1000 FIM Cup takes place at Brands Hatch in the UK on 4th to 6th August 2006, where over 100,000 race fans are expected to turn up for the biggest race of the year.

Saturday 24th July 2006

EMS Racing Caught Out by Rain in Brno
 
 
The two-man EMS Racing team saw any chance of qualifying on the front row end when a short sharp down pour in the final qualifying session prevented them from showing their true potential around the Czech circuit. After being in contention for pole position in the two practice sessions Sheridan Morais ended the day in 22nd place, whilst team mate Mark Pollock finished in 31st position.
 
Up until the final qualifying session this afternoon, 21 year old South African rider Sheridan Morais had been in sensational form around the 5.4KM circuit, setting the third quickest time in the dry morning Free Practice session.  Sheridan was the only rider consistently lapping in the 2m 08s barrier and was confident that his times would easily be good enough to secure a front row start with the possibility of pole position.
 
Unfortunately, as the 36 strong Superstock field headed out onto the track heavy rain fell, which completely saturated the track in a matter of minutes, and then stopped. Sheridan came in to fit wet tyres and returned onto the circuit, but despite the rain the track temperature remained at 42 degrees which caused the circuit to dry quickly. Sheridan soon realised that it was not possible to better his time using the wet weather tyres but by the time he came in to change back to dry tyres the session was coming to an end and he had no further opportunity to get back on track and improve his time.
 
“I’m absolutely gutted with that. I’ve been working really hard to improve my qualifying performances and really thought that pole position was possible. After racing at the track last weekend we had the EMS Racing Suzuki set up perfectly and I knew I could improve my lap time and grid position. The rain really ruined any chance of that, so now I’m starting a long way back in 22nd place.” explained Sheridan.
 
“On the plus side, having raced here last weekend I know where I can overtake so I’ll be going all out from lap one to try and rectify the situation.” continued Sheridan
 
Team mate Mark Pollock had an even more difficult weekend as he had no prior knowledge of the technical Brno circuit, which is used for both MotoGP and World Superbikes. In the first practice session the 22 year old had a clutch problem that severely hampered his progress and in the final qualifying session he was caught out by the rain, just as Sheridan had been.
 
“It’s going to be a tough race because I just really haven’t had enough laps around here in the dry. The track is amazing but it’s very fast and very wide so it takes a lot of learning. We’ve got a few different settings to try on the bike and we’ll give them a go in morning warm-up so hopefully we can improve a lot in the race. It’s disappointing but I’m starting to really feel comfortable on the bike and I’ll be giving it 100% tomorrow.” said Mark.
 
The 12-lap Brno race gets underway at 10.40am local time with the ten minute warm-up session starting at 9am.