By Carly Rathmell
July 12 2005

It was a mixed weekend for 22-year-old Hinckley based rider Dave Johnson of Xpress Racing at the extremely hot Snetterton Circuit. Johnson only managed to qualify his Drayton Croft/Xpress Suzuki GSX-R1000 K5 in 14th place, but despite that he rode an impressive and smooth race to bag a sixth place.

Johnson made an impressive start and was soon locked in a six-way battle for third place, with the positions changing on each lap. The hot weather conditions made the track abrasion pretty slippery and, with Snetterton being one of the fastest circuits in the country, it made it hard to stay with the faster, lighter riders.

Dave Johnson - photo © Raceline Photography

Qualifying was frantic, with just over a second separating the top sixteen riders on the grid. It was essential that Johnson made a good start and worked his way through the pack, which is just what he did. Race leader Adrian Coates had already made a break by the time Johnson had caught up the freight train for third position, but he got his head down and worked his way through the pack.

Commenting Johnson said, “I knew it would be fairly difficult at this circuit as it’s so fast and I knew everything would be really close. I didn’t have the best qualifying session and left myself with a fair bit of work to do in the race, but as soon as the lights changed I just got my head down and I was on a mission. I didn’t want to crash again and the pace was pretty hot. I was locked in a tight battle with a whole host of riders and, thankfully, managed to get myself up to sixth, which I’m happy with. We’ve got a fairly big break now until the next round at Silverstone, so it will give me time to refresh and hopefully I’ll be back on the podium there.”

Team Principal Nigel Broomhall added, “This has been a tough weekend for David, struggling to find that extra couple of tenths during qualifying. However, it was incredibly close at the front of the grid and, with David getting a good start, we collected some well deserved championship points. Silverstone is a good circuit for David, so we are looking forward very much to the next round and to put David back on the podium.”

Race result:
1 Coates
2 Bridewell
3 Zanotti
4 Rainey
5 Young
6 Johnson
7 Fitzpatrick
8 Shand
9 Ingram
10 Hutchinson

Championship standings:
1 Young, 139
2 Jackson, 100
3 Coates, 93
4 Fitzpatrick, 85
5 Tinsley, 76
6 Rainey, 76
7 Bridewell, 71
8 Johnson, 63
9 Shand, 58