Samsung wrap up season at Brands Hatch.

The Samsung Suzuki team of Dean Thomas and Sean Emmett enjoyed their final round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at the Brands Hatch Indy circuit.

Although the team’s results were not what they had hoped for both riders had a good battle on track. Chatter and rear grip caused problems ahead of qualifying but Thomas pulled it back to qualify in 14th while Emmett ended up further down the times sheets in 23rd.

“Qualifying went pretty well actually considering how much we are struggling,“ said Thomas, “We’ve been a little off the pace and struggling with rear grip. We have a rear grip issue and a chatter issue which we worked on all day Friday and all of Saturday morning trying to get rid of it. We went into qualifying and put some qualifying tyres on and it cured all our problems in one hit! So that proves that it is a rear grip issue that we are dealing with.”

Race one went ok for Thomas but not so good for his team-mate Emmett who had to retire after four laps due to a clutch problem. Thomas finished in 16th, “The first one was ok coming in sixteenth place was frustrating as I know I’m capable of running up the front but those days are gone now by the looks of it. It was good fun, a good race, a hard work but it was what it was. The Samsung Suzuki team have been great all year, but they have had restrictions they’ve had to work round with the machinery and they have done the best they can which they proved this weekend.”

The second race was finished by both riders but further down the field however they spent the entire race dicing with one another. “The second race for me was the most fun I’ve had for a while, even though Sean and myself were dicing with each other for eighteenth position,” he explained, “It was a giggle because we are both on the exact same motorbike, on the exact same tyres and it shows that neither of us are lacking in ability or speed, just the machinery underneath us just isn’t quite up to the job. It was fun. It was almost like having our own race.”

This was the last time that Thomas will be on track as he has announced his retirement. The Samsung Team would like to thank their sponsors for their assistance this season.