GRAEME Gowland once again proved he was the man to beat as he picked up two wins and a second place at Cadwell Park over the weekend.
But the Allendale rider admitted he was disappointed not to get three victories as the Mirror.co.uk BSB-Evo Championship made its annual visit to the renowned Lincolnshire track.
Sunday afternoon saw the first of three races, with the rescheduled event from Oulton Park last month which was cancelled due to heavy rain.
Starting from 16th overall and fourth in Evo, Gowland – known as Gowla – suffered an uncharacteristic bad start and spent the first lap regrouping and getting back in touch with the third placed rider Karl Harris. Quickly finding his pace, he moved up to third on Lap Three and then chased down second-placed man Scott Smart, making the move three laps later to take the place.
He then set about chasing his WFR Honda team-mate Glen Richards, and was getting ever closer until rain called an early halt to the race on Lap 12, forcing him to settle for second.
“I was disappointed that the race was called early because I think I could’ve passed Glen and got the win,” he admitted. “I didn’t get the best of starts which put me at a disadvantage from the beginning.
“Had I got off the line quicker I could’ve been up there, and I was gutted when it started to rain and they red-flagged the race because I’m certain I could’ve won had it gone full distance.”
However, yesterday he was back on full gas for both races. After another impressive qualifying session on Sunday morning he lined up on Evo pole and eighth overall ahead of the day’s first race.
Getting a lightning start he moved up to P7, and was running sixth as the pack crossed the line for the first time.
Although he lost out to two of the faster Superbike runners, he took the Evo spoils and crossed the line eighth overall, and was determined to do exactly the same in yesterday afternoon’s second race.
But Race Two was marred by the devastating news that 18-year-old Ben Gautrey had been killed in an accident in the afternoon’s earlier Superstock 600 race, and it was a subdued pack that headed out to compete.
Again Gowla was the man on a charge, holding P1 in Evo from lights to flag and never coming under any pressure from his fellow Evo runners. His ninth overall claimed his second victory of the day.
Clearly shaken from the tragic news which filtered through just moments before the race got underway, Gowla said he was pleased with his result.
“It’s a tough track this one, but the bike worked perfectly. I’m really happy with two wins today for the team because they’ve worked so hard.”
Gowla has now moved up to second in the championship, just 11 points behind Bishop Auckland’s Barry Burrell.
