News 16 Sep 2010

ASBK: Coxhell continues to close on Superstock series lead

Craig Coxhell has been the man to beat in Superstock A since joining the series at Queensland Raceway.

Craig Coxhell has been the man to beat in Superstock A since joining the series at Queensland Raceway.

CJC Racing’s Craig Coxhell remains in with a shot at winning the Superstock 1000 A-grade category in this year’s Australian Superbike Championship despite missing the opening two rounds of the season.

The BMW S 1000 RR pilot made his debut for 2010 at Hidden Valley in the Superbike at round two, before electing to switch to the Superstock class for the first of the Queensland Raceway rounds.

Since then, the 2003 ASBK series champion has gone on a rampage, winning each and every round of the Superstock series and now sitting just 24 points behind Queenslander Brendan Clarke with one round remaining.

“We’re making progress all the time and we’ve learnt a lot about the bike this weekend,” Coxhell commented. “We resolved a couple of little things that had been niggling us in the wet on Friday and then made improvements across the whole weekend with our dry setup.

“Even though the final setup wasn’t perfect, it was good enough for the win – the team have done another great job this weekend, especially considering the reduced track time here compared to our normal stand alone rounds.

“I would have liked to be a little higher up outright, but the tyre just wasn’t there in the end. Everyone struggled with tyre wear this weekend, Phillip Island is such a killer track for tyres and we’re a bit behind the eight ball development-wise with the new bike so this is a great result, I’m really happy for the team and for BMW.”

Despite his Superstock dominance, Coxhell continues to aim for top positions outright against the Superbike competitors in the field.

“The racing was close, seventh and 10th outright was okay, but we really want to put more of the Superbike-spec machines behind us,” the Victorian explained. “The pit lane was constantly filled with race fans, many interested to see the new BMW. Luckily on Sunday the weather was cooperative, so it made for a great show both on and off the track.”

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