It was yet another weekend of high drama for the Appleyard Macadam Yamaha at Brands Hatch as Brad Perie showed race leading pace before a huge accident which he escaped unscathed from. With the Supersport Championship out of their grasp, the Appleyard Macadam Yamaha squad could concentrate on a strong finish to the year at Brands Hatch.
With seasonal temperatures and sporadic drizzle, the riders knew ‘banking’ fast early laps in each practice and qualifying session was key, something that had caught them out earlier in the year. With this in mind, Brad had a strong second place performance in FP2 with a fast 1:28.738 circulation. He then backed that up with a third (second in SS600 class) placed qualifying run, logging his lap early before rain came down. Rhys wasn’t quite ‘on the money’ with a 13th in FP2 but then almost out of nowhere fired in a fast lap in qualifying that was just behind Brad, putting him P4 on the grid.
Starting from the front row of the grid, Brad had a good start in the Sprint event to fight a race long battle with title rivals Ben Currie and Lee Johnston. Whilst ex-Appleyard rider Jack Kennedy cleared off to take his third title, Brad had an excellent outing to hold off his more experienced rivals for a hard fought second place. Rhys was boxed out at the start, having an eventful ride to finish ninth (sixth in SS600).
Sunday’s Feature Race was held towards the end of the programme with low track temperatures but the action on track was red hot! Brad and Jack had a titanic battle for the lead which kept the commentors shouting throughout. Unfortunately Brad had a massive accident whilst leading, with Jack only narrowly managing to avoid running him over. As an uninjured Brad returned to the pits, the race restarted and Rhys took tenth place (seventh in class).
The final Quattro British Supersport Championship points tally saw Brad finish fourth and Rhys ninth.
Team Owner Robin Appleyard said, “P2 yesterday was good in tricky, damp conditions with Brad fighting Jack in top form. Today he crashed out but again battling and pushing on whilst leading, so no shame in that, it’s what we like to see. Rhys has moved forward with lap times again this weekend. This season we started with two young riders to try and develop them. I hoped we would win races and maybe even the title but we finished probably about as well as we could with the slight inexperience they had. We have two good lads who hopefully we’ve helped move their career forward.”
Bradley Perie said, “It’s disappointing to crash out but at least we were at the sharp end, having a really good battle with Jack. I’m glad he didn’t go down in the accident and I’m feeling ok to be honest. It’s a shame because we’ve had an up-and-down year and it would have been good to repay the team with another win today. A big thanks for the team in what’s been an interesting season!”
Rhys Irwin added, “I struggled a bit this weekend, it’s a tough track to set the bike up to. We were two seconds off the fastest laps at the start and only 0.4 off in that last race, so I’m happy with the progress we’ve made. I came in with very little experience but the team have given me so much support. Hopefully I can show what I can do now, with a year under my belt next season.”
