GRAEME 'Gowla' Gowland ended the season in style with a hat trick of victories at Brands Hatch at the weekend.
The result means the Allendale rider has finished second in the Mirror.co.uk BSB-Evo Championship and just 27 points behind winner and team-mate Glen Richards – despite missing a number of races earlier in the year due to injury.
And there was more celebration for the region as Bishop Auckland’s Barry Burrell secured third in the championship after scoring a third and second in the final round.
Gowla, who broke his wrist in the opening round of the year at Brands Hatch, was sidelined for two months and it took until July for him to regain full fitness.
Since then he has won an incredible 13 races – compared to champion Richards’ three – and of those 13, nine of them have been back to back victories.
So it was no shock to the BSB paddock on Saturday, when the 24-year-old quickly emerged the fastest in free practice and continued his strong form through into qualifying where he took pole in Evo by a country mile.
In that afternoon’s race he took an easy win and got a fast lap time which put him in another solid pole for the first of two races on Sunday.
It was to be an easy lights to flag victory where he battled with the main MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship boys all the way, finishing the 20-lap race sixth overall, ahead of the Splitlath Motorsport Aprilia of Karl Harris who took second in Evo with Patric Muff third.
Determined to end the season on a high, he had another strong race in the season showdown later that afternoon.
While the main focus was on the big Superbike battle which saw the Guisborough Swan Yamaha team’s Tommy Hill beat American star John Hopkins to the title by half a wheel length, Gowland did what he does best and led Evo from start to finish.
“This has been an amazing end to the year, the only sad thing is that by the time I regained full race fitness the season was half over and Glen had done enough with consistent finishes by then,” he revealed.
“But I won’t moan about that – it was my own mistake at the start of the year which cost me the title. I crashed on my own and I’ve probably paid the price.
“However, it has been awesome since July when I got my full strength back. This bike is just phenomenal, the team have done such a good job with it and it has suited me perfectly.
“Getting 13 wins is brilliant, and I’ve loved every part of it. From a season which started so badly I think I’ve done enough to make up for it, and I’m so pleased we ended it with our ninth win in a row.
“I can’t thank this team enough, they have been amazing.”
Series rookie Burrell meanwhile, was happy to take third, even though he had been running second for much of the season until losing the spot to Gowland last month.
After scoring a third in Saturday’s race, the Buildbase BMW rider’s hopes of a second place in Sunday’s opening race went up in tyre smoke after he crashed out on the seventh lap.
But the team were able to repair his bike in time for the final showdown. Saving his best until last, he stormed through from the sixth row and was up to third by the end of the fourth lap.
He took second place from Muff on Lap Eight and kept his cool all the way to the flag to cross the line second behind pal Gowland.
“It’s a great way to end the year,” he told The Journal. “We’ve had some ups and downs but the team and the bike have been brilliant.
“It was always going to be hard to get close to the WFR boys, so to be the best of the rest is an achievement in itself.”
