Motorsport: Russell ends season on a high

Nov 7 2012 by Paul Thomson, East Kilbride News

Chapelton biker Russell Brown enjoyed a good finish to his season last week, claiming a top-12 placing.

The 16-year-old saw his third competitive season of motorcycle racing end as he rode the ECS MOT Centre Aprilia RRV450for the final time and finished the season in 13th position in the Doodson Motorsport Supertwins Championship from a fieldof 41.

Having narrowly missed selection as this year’s Triumph Young Gun only two weeks earlier, Russell worked hard to close the gap on the riders in front as the weekend of testing, qualifying and racing progressed.

However, he endured a near disastrous start to the week when his race truck narrowly avoided a serious fire after an electrical fault caused insulation in the wiring loom under the dashboard to burn for over five minutes, just as he began his journey down the M74 from Strathaven to Mallory, Leicestershire.

He said: “The sight of smoke coming from the dashboard was worrying, but it soon stopped when the ignition was switched off, but not before serious damage to the wiring loom.

“Because of this my dad had to make two separate journeys to Leicestershire in 24 hours to transport me and then the bikes to Mallory Park.”

Despite these difficulties, Russell went on to post the third fastest time at the Chris Walker Race School, where he was tutored by Superbike stars Barry Burrell and James Westmoreland and Moto2 rider Dan Linfoot.

This was an opportunity to try out a 600cc Kawasaki race bike to compare with the Triumph 675 that he had ridden at Thruxton.

Russell added: “My plan is to move on to a 600cc bike in 2013 so the Chris Walker Race School was a great opportunity to try out the Kawasaki and also get some extra track time before the weekend’s racing.”

And after a number of finishes around the top 12-15 during Friday and Saturday, Russell took his final chequered flag of the season last Sunday afternoon where he managed to equal his best position of the weekend to finish 12th.The youngster said: “Overall my best lap time was 58.083 seconds – that’s nearly two seconds faster than my time last year so I’m happy with that.”

Russell has now spent one year riding the ECS MOTCentre Aprilia RRV450 and plans to ride either in 600cc Superstock, or on the Triumph 675 in the Triumph Triple challenge at BSB.

He acknowledges that either championship would be a big step forward, but with a good technical support network and the opportunity to race with faster riders, whatever option he chooses will help him continue to develop.