Fine finish as Mansfield-based Binch Racing complete tough ‘learning curve’ season

Rider Sam Munro was unable to compete in the opening race due to engine problems but battled superbly in the second race – the 16-lap feature race – in which he fought back from 39th on the starting grid to an impressive eighth place finish.

A team spokesman said: “Dave Binch and the whole team are as busy as we have ever been for this time of year making plans for our charge next year.

“This year has been our first year in the Supersport class. It has been a tremendous learning curve for all us.

“It is a fiercely competitive class and we have pitted ourselves against some very experienced riders and teams.

“We will take all of our learnings, make things better and move forward together.”

Still opting to compete with only the one Yamaha 600cc Supersport machine, Binch rider Munro's confident start to qualifying ended when he lost the rear coming out of Sterlings bend, which delivered a large high side.

Then frustration grew as his motor gave up just ahead of race one.

The DNS in race one automatically put him to the back of the grid for race two.

Morning warm up was very useful as Munroe used the time to bed the effectively new bike in And by the end of lap one he was already up to 21st from 39th and by the end of lap two, under a safety car, he was up to 17th.

One lap after that he was into the points in 15th.

Lap after lap Munroe was putting in really strong lap times and closing the gap on all those in front of him.

As the race unfolded the lead pack had got away and there were some gaps opening up and as the chequered flag came out, he had gone up 31 places to finish eighth.

A team spokesman said: “Getting through traffic and slower riders is not easy and it can take valuable time to execute it correctly.

“Sam threw caution to the wind and emptied his bag of race craft to give himself and the team just the boost we needed. Of course we wanted more from the weekend, but racing is all about resilience and digging deep to find positives and get results. Sam did just that for us.”