RAIN STOPS PLAY AT DUNDROD
Aug 2008
There was disappointment all round in the Relentless Suzuki camp when Saturday’s Ulster Grand Prix was cancelled due to a severe weather warning in Northern Ireland. The organising Dundrod and District Motorcycle Club were left with no other option when 45mm of rain fell within a three-hour period on Saturday morning leaving the circuit in no fit state for racing.
Relentless Suzuki riders Bruce Anstey and Cameron Donald had performed extremely well in the qualifying sessions with Anstey taking pole position in the Superbike class by almost four seconds. The Kiwi then took pole position in the Superstock class with a new unofficial lap record of 128.95mph. Donald also dipped under the previous lap record, posting a time of 128.62mph on his GSX–R1000 Suzuki making it a one–two for the Moneymore team on the front row.
After dominating both the wet and dry practice sessions in less than perfect conditions there was every chance that Suzuki would have filled the Superbike podiums, with Adrian Archibald, on the TAS Performance prepared AMA Racing GSX–R1000 second in qualifying, just ahead of Relentless Suzuki’s Cameron Donald.
Philip Neill – Team Principal
“It really is a shame that we didn’t get to finish the international road racing season. Our qualifying positions showed that we had the best set-up available, and our riders also demonstrated their desire in the difficult conditions giving us, what I feel, was a clear advantage. Again we can take positives from the week: Bruce Anstey put in an outstanding performance in qualifying – taking into consideration he hadn’t ridden a bike in nine weeks – baffling everyone with his talent on the roads! Cameron wasn’t that far behind him, which is testament to the knowledge our team and riders have of the Dundrod circuit and the perfect settings we have found on our GSX–R Suzuki machinery.”
Cameron Donald
“I’m pretty gutted to be honest; I was so frustrated I actually left the circuit and went to the gym to burn off some energy. I can now look forward to my final UK race for Relentless Suzuki this weekend in the British Superstock championship at Cadwell Park, then its back to Australia – although I will be linking up again with the team for the Macau GP in November.”
Bruce Anstey
“I’m disappointed like every other rider out there, and after qualifying so well I was pretty confident of a few wins at Dundrod. I’ll be staying on in Northern Ireland for a few days. The international road racing season is pretty much over, but I will be speaking to the team this week about possibly doing a few other races before the end of the year.”
For more information on the GSX-R1000, click here.
