Team ILR's Nadieh Schoots came away from her debut at Thruxton well pleased with her weekend's efforts as the Pirelli National Superstock 1000cc Championship moves into the second half of the season. The seventh round of the series saw the young Dutch girl register a race finish for the second meeting on the trot with a confident ride.
Nadieh was 37th in Friday’s free practice session and just outside the qualifying benchmark for the race, but both she and team owner Ian Lougher were confident there was more to come.
Using the sizeable knowledge the team has for settings for the superstock Kawasaki, Nadieh went over three seconds quicker in first qualifying to comfortably qualify for Sunday’s race. In the second session the next day, Nadieh managed to knock almost a second and a half off her fastest time and took her place on the grid in 38th place for Sunday's 16-lap race.
Nadieh looking comfortable on the Team ILR ZX10 at Thruxton. Photo by www.burnoutmedia.uk
An incident in the earlier Superbike race, meant the Superstock 1000 race was reduced from 16 laps to 13 and as the race got underway in much cooler conditions Nadieh held her position as the field streamed round the ultra fast circuit on the opening lap.
By the end of the lap, Nadieh had gained a place and as the race wore on she found herself up to 35th and closing on the riders in front. But with the race being reduced, she ran out of laps to make any further impact and she had to settle for 35th place, but nevertheless delighted with her race.
Team ILR owner/manager Ian Lougher:
''Nadieh had a good enough weekend and did a decent lap time in practice. She rode a solid race and brought the Team ILR ZX-10 home for a second successive finish and can now look forward to building on this at the next round at Brands.''
Nadieh Schoots:
“It was my first time at Thruxton and I love the circuit, it's my favourite in the UK so far. It's so fast and I had a smile on my face every lap! I made a lot of progress this weekend and felt I have closed the gap to the riders in front of me and I'm happy with another race finish, and my fastest weekend so far. I'll be looking to improve even further! A big thank-you to my team."