3:29pm Thursday 22nd July 2010
By Neil Johnson
ENDURANCE by name and endurance by nature. That was the fate of Rossendale bike racers Garry Buck and Ashley Rothwell when they contested round four of the Hottrax Endurance Championship at Oulton Park.
The pair had to settle for an unlucky 13th place after an incident-packed meeting at the Cheshire Circuit.
Racing as team TM17, they were plagued with bad luck before the weekend had even started.
Rothwell was nursing a broken rib in an unrelated accident, while Buck was suffering from a badly sprained ankle.
And with engine repairs still not complete on his Honda Fireblade, Buck was still using a borrowed Suzuki for the crucial qualifying session.
However, Rothwell rode through the pain barrier to post a personal best of 1m 51s – enough to take ninth on the 33-strong grid.
From the ‘Le Mans’ style start, he was up to seventh overall before the first rider change at 30 minutes.
Thanks to the injured ankle, Buck hadn’t managed any time on the bike, but maintained the pressure on the leaders in sixth place.
But the team’s bad luck kicked in again when Rothwell, riding the final leg, clashed with a rival at the Shell hairpin, bringing out the pace car, while the bikes and riders were recovered.
With Buck then taking over for his final stint, team TM17 were now four laps behind the leaders. Their 13th place netted them just three points towards their championship tally.
Their next race is on August Bank Holiday at Anglesey.
The team is looking for sponsors and local business to help support them for the remaining rounds of the year.
Any company interested in doing can contact Buck at garry3372@hotmail.com.
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