Riders enjoy success in Oulton Park races (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Riders enjoy success in Oulton Park races

1:00pm Thursday 12th July 2012 in Sport

EAST Lancashire enjoyed a weekend of success at the British Superbike Championship meeting at Oulton Park.

The Cheshire event is the closest to Lancashire and is regarded by local teams and riders as their ‘home’ race, and Burnley team FPW Racing took victory in the British Motostar Championship race on Sunday thanks to young talent Luke Hedger.

Joining him on the podium was Worsthorne’s Harry Hartley, who took sixth overall but was third in the Motostar Cup section for under 16s.

Haslingden’s Tom Carne was fifth to match his best result of the season with Callum Bey, of Burnley team RCD Motorsport, seventh.

Colne team Appleyard/Macadam saw their riders take encouraging fifth, seventh and eighth placed finishes in the British Supersport Championship race.

Hedger took pole position by 0.8 seconds in qualifying for the British Motostar Championship but a poor getaway saw him lose three places at the start of Sunday’s race.

He was able to fight his way back to the front to take his second win of the season, though – with his previous victory, FPW’s first ever triumph in the series, also coming at Oulton Park in May.

Hedger now has a commanding 29-point lead in the championship – a support series for the British Superbike Championship – at the halfway stage.

Team boss Adrian Mason, from Accrington, said: “FPW Racing on top of the podium is what we’re here for.

“Everyone worked really hard all weekend and it was good to repeat the home round win.”

Hartley qualified fifth and finished sixth in the race, but was behind only Hedger and Joe Francis in the Motostar Cup section.

Carne started ninth after technical problems but was quickly up to sixth and passed Hartley late in the race to finish fifth.

“Waking up on Sunday morning, I knew I had a huge mountain to climb,” said Carne.

“In the race I got a good start and I was more than happy with fifth.”

Bey, 14, qualified sixth and ended the race in seventh – fourth in the Motostar Cup section. Ryan Watson, of Appleyard/Macadam Racing, was 15th after qualifying 11th.

Fellow Appleyard/Macadam riders Kev Coghlan, Nikki Coates and Deane Brown recorded their best results of the season in the first British Supersport Championship race. Coghlan was fifth with Coates seventh and Brown eighth.

In the second race of the weekend, Coghlan was eighth with Brown 12th and Coates 13th.

Another Appleyard/Macadam rider, Daniel Kinloch, was 22nd in the National Superstock 600 Championship race.