It was a solid weekend for Jakub Smrz and the Smiths Racing BMW team at Brands Hatch, with the Czech rider adding to his points tally.
Technical problems in Q2 of Qualifying led to Smrz starting race one down in 17th position. Despite these problems, a ninth place finish in Sunday morning’s warm-up session gave the team hope ahead of race one.
A sluggish start to the race saw Smrz complete the first lap in 20th place but just as he started to move forward, the double British Supersport championship-winning team’s bad luck returned and he crashed out on the fourth lap at Druids.
The crash meant that Smrz had it all to do once again in race two, starting down on the seventh row of the grid. A positive start enabled Smrz to move up into 15th place and a points-scoring position.
At half race distance, he moved up into 13th although fellow BMW rider Jake Dixon overhauled him in the closing stages meaning he had to settle for 14th at the end of the race.
Looking back at the weekend, Smrz said: “It was a great weekend in some respects as the ideas the team had with the bike worked really well and straight away I was able to run top ten pace with only little changes required. The flip side is that I didn’t ultimately get the results I felt we deserved.
“The technical issue in qualifying was our first of the year and was just one of those things. I put myself under pressure in the first race and made a bad start, eventually crashing out but the team did a great job with the bike and I was able to fight hard and get a result and some more points.
“I didn’t get as many points as I would have liked this weekend but I’m really happy with the job the team did this weekend and the bike is definitely feeling like how I want it to.”
The next round of the MCE British Superbike Championship takes place at Cadwell Park, Lincolnshire, on August 27/29th.
