Tyco BMW reported a tough weekend at the penultimate round of the 2017 MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at the Dutch circuit of Assen. Riders Christian Iddon and Josh Elliott started the weekend strongly with both showing pace throughout the practice sessions and qualifying despite the changeable conditions during the opening two days on track.
Clearly comfortable in the mixed conditions, Iddon charged his S1000RR to the top of the times during free practice and followed it by securing a front row start for race one after a hard-fought final stage of qualifying. Josh Elliott had his first taste of Q3 and managed to place himself seventh on the grid despite this being only his second appearance on the S1000RR Superbike.
Iddon was fighting hard in the opening race despite some minor brake issues, but whilst trying to regain ground he crashed out of contention at the final corner. He bounced back in race two to claim eighth position and regain the lead in the Riders Cup ahead of the final round of the season at Brands Hatch. Elliott finished the race with a pair of 19th place finishes.
Team Manager Philip Neill said afterwards: “After a strong showing throughout qualifying, Sunday once again did not quite deliver the results we expect. Both Christian and the Tyco BMW S1000RR have already proven this the year how strong the combination can be although for whatever reason the past few rounds have been difficult for us. Josh had a decent weekend considering this is only the second time he has ridden the Superbike. He is a quality rider and I’m sure he has a future in Superbike. It’s clear we as a team have some work to do and with one round remaining we will put everything into the next two weeks in the hope of finishing the season on a high note at Brands Hatch by securing the Riders Cup with Christian.”
Christian Iddon #24 said: “This weekend was absolutely not the Assen we had hoped for but I’m proud of how my team fought to the end. We encountered a few small brake issues during race one and also experienced excessive tyre wear during the races. We didn’t have the set up exactly as we would have liked in the dry to maintain the pace we needed for the race result we were aiming for at the start of the weekend, but the team pulled together and that is what is important. It might sound like a broken record but we will regroup and return stronger to finish the season as best we can at Brands Hatch in two weeks, we were on the podium there earlier in the season it would be good to be back up there again!”
And Josh Elliott #10 said: “I learnt a lot this weekend with a lot of positives to take from it and more experienced gained on a Superbike. Qualifying 7th was definitely the highlight. The races were very tough due to the lack of dry track time I had this weekend but I was happy with my lap time in race two and I know the areas we can improve on. Many thanks to the Tyco BMW team for the opportunity to ride this weekend and the guys worked great to help me on the Superbike.”
