Duff tyre keeps Ellison from victory attack

Having qualified 3rd, James Ellison was one of a few riders who looked like they could ride at the pace of Brad Ray and Shane Byrne. However, the Anvil Hire Tag Racing Yamaha rider failed to blossom after a duff set of tyres pushed him down the running order in race one. He fought hard in race two, picking up 5 crucial points for his championship assault.

“It’s frustrating because we’ve been really strong all weekend, I’m gutted for everybody in the team and myself,” began Ellison, who, for a 2nd consecutive season, had an unlucky weekend at Brands Hatch Indy.

“I had a great grid position for race one, but I had a duff tyres, front and rear, and a couple of guys behind me had the same issue. Both tyres just had no grip, and we hadn’t had that issue all weekend long, which was really frustrating.

“Because of the issues we had I didn’t get a good lap time in, which set me back for race two on the grid. The heavens then opened, I missed the exit for pit lane because we were setting the bike up for the wet. But I fought my way through to get some solid points from the back of the grid, so I’m fairly happy with that.

“These last two races aren’t a showing of what we’re really capable of, so we’ll take away the positives and work towards Oulton Park.”

Ellison slips outside of the ‘Showdown’ places and subsequently out of the top 10 too. The Cumbrian is 12th, 2 points behind McAMS Yamaha rider, Josh Brookes.

Ellison slips