Australian rider Ben Burke finished a solid fourth position in round Seven of the British Superbikes Championship Superstock 600 class held at Brands Hatch over the weekend.
Burke set a good pace in both qualifying sessions Saturday positioning himself on the front row of the grid with the third quickest time for Sundays race.
As the race began Burke quickly took his Seton Tuning Yamaha into second position. Burke found himself surrounded by the Moto Breakers Team Yamaha Riders of Jake Dixon, James Lodge and James Rose early on and after some intense battling dropped back to fifth after being forced wide.
Burkes teammate, South African rider Bjorn Estment made a move on Burke and helped pull the leaders back in before Estment made a mistake and went sliding into the gravel on turn two allowing Burke back into fifth position with Matthew Paulo just ahead of him.
Burke played it smart watching on as the four leaders traded positions with a lot of aggression. Paulo dropped back just enough for Burke to pick off before the finish and move back into fourth position behind his closest championship rival Rose.
"It was a pretty intense battle out front, so I wanted to stay out of it as I could see someone coming off pretty easily." Burke stated. "I dropped back a little too far and couldn‰Ûªt bridge the gap back again so I had to settle for fourth but its good points for me."
Burke lost three points off his lead in the Superstock 600 Championship but still maintains a fifteen point lead with one hundred and forty five points to second place Roses, one hundred and thirty points and Dixon in third on one hundred and ten points.
"The plan of attack for the final four rounds is to just hold the championship lead, if I finish every time I think I will be close to where I need to be." Burke Concluded
The next round of the British Superbikes will take place at Cadwell Park on the 25th to 27th of August.
Top Image: Burke's Seaton Tuning Yamaha team hard at work in preparation for his race at Brands Hatch
Credit: Mat Cox
