Teenager Liam Delves moves up to eighth after tough Oulton Park challenge - The Solihull Observer

Teenager Liam Delves moves up to eighth after tough Oulton Park challenge

Solihull Editorial 5th May, 2016 Updated: 21st Oct, 2016   0

LIAM Delves rode to a steady eighth place finish at Oulton Park on Monday in round two of the British Motostar Championship which moves the teenager up to eighth in the rider standings.

There was only one race at the Cheshire circuit instead of the usual two because of restrictions on track time and that was perhaps a good call as snow, hail, heavy rain and strong winds caused havoc throughout the weekend.

The Motostar series comprises of two classes, the Moto3 GP and the Moto3 Standard class with Delves competing on the 250cc standard machine.

The Smiths Wood Sports college student qualified in 16th place overall and fourth in his class to start his race from the sixth row and he settled into 23rd place (eighth in his class).




With the weather calming down in time for Delves’ 14th lap and with the track relatively dry, there was always the threat of another heavy shower hanging over the riders.

Delves is still getting used to the 250cc machine after making the step up from GP125 and this reflected in his race position and with a damp track and a new bike under him, the 15-year-old was apprehensive of his performance.


He was a way behind Thomas Strudwick and gradually hunted him down. Delves was within 0.2 seconds of him in the latter stages but just couldn’t get past and completed his race in 21st overall and eighth in his class.

“The first qualifying session was done in sketchy conditions but I managed to finish second in my class just 0.1s away from the leader,” said Delves who moved onto 17 points for the Championship.

“In the final session we had to change tyres half way through because it began to dry up and there was a dry line which was more suited to dry weather tyres.

“I was running in third place for the majority of the session but was knocked back a place in the dying seconds.

“I finished my race in eighth place which was not the result I had hoped for but I am still getting my head around the new bike and with differing conditions I didn’t want to make a mistake.

“I would like to thank Banks Racing, Paul from Moto Engineering and all the team for all their hard work and to everyone for their support.”

Delves now has to get back to his studies ahead of his GCSE exams but he will be back on the track for round three at Brands Hatch on May 22.

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