Eugene McManus Junior collected a fine brace of top 10 finishes at Silverstone this weekend in the Hel Performance Motostar British Championship. Younger brother James stepped up to the plate with 2 fantastic performances in The British Junior Supersport Series.
With the BSB management taking the decision to run this weekend's event on the much shorter National circuit, Eugene Junior soon got to grips with the 1.6 mile trip and finished Day 1 in P5.
Free Practice 1 had seen the top 9 riders setting lap times of 1:01's with The Wee Bull consistently matching early pace setters Storm Stacey and Jake Archer. The top 5 went quicker still in FP2 with McManus Junior only 0.310 of a second off pole.
The Motostar riders were first out on Saturday morning and unfortunately the weather played a big part in a difficult session for all. The recent motogp event had been cancelled due to concerns with how the track performed in the wet. The Qualifying session was 6 seconds slower than the previous days free practice and all the riders struggled with the conditions. The Wee Bull finished in P10. City Lifting's Jack Scott took pole with wildcard Charlie Nesbitt in second and Asher Durham in third.
Race 1 later on Saturday afternoon saw Championship leader Jake Archer take his ninth victory ahead of Storm Stacey and Jack Scott. McManus Junior made a brilliant start and worked his way through the field from tenth to finish in a respectable sixth place. The front five had gapped McManus Junior a little, otherwise he could well have challenged for a podium. Eugene would start P8 for race 2 on Sunday.
The Wee Bull battled well in Race 2 and fought off a late challenge from RS Racing team mate Sharni Pinfold to finally take seventh place, with Jake Archer taking his second win of the weekend and extending his Championship lead. It was Archer, Storm Stacey and Jack Scott who swapped places at the front for the podium positions, leaving McManus to fight on with Pinfold and Elliott Lodge. The Wee Bull has shown some real consistency and picked up 39 points in the last 2 rounds, keeping him in 7th position in The Championship and closing the gap to Ed Rendell in sixth. It's swiftly onto Oulton Park next weekend, for the penultimate Round of the Motostar series, where McManus Junior has good form and will be amongst the front runners again.
Junior Supersport
"Wee" Jimmy McManus continued his incredible progression in The Junior Supersport series with a brilliant 11th place finish in Race 1 and an even more impressive top P10 finish in Race 2. The Fourteen year old, in only his second event of his career, made a real leap forward on the shorter Silverstone National Circuit. James picked up a fine haul of 11 championship points and even gained praise from Be Wiser Ducati star Glenn Irwin who said;
"very very impressive, his performance was incredible"
Young McManus will be back out at Oulton Park next weekend and is determined to build on this momentum. A delighted Eugene McManus Senior was quick to praise both his sons;
"What can I say about these two boys!! We are immensely proud of their achievements..
Proud parents, Proud family, Proud team"