EMS Racing take strong 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 22^nd on the grid to claim a point scoring 13^th place finish, whilst team mate Mark Pollock went from 31^st spot up into the top twenty before a collision on the final lap dropped him to 25^th 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 5.403KM 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 13^th 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 31^st 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 25^th 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 4^th to 6^th August 2006, where over 100,000 race fans are expected to turn up for the biggest race of the year.