Nurburgring May 29 to 31st
Jeremy McWilliams was still out of action at Nurburgring, but was at the circuit to help Josh with set up; especially that he had new ‘K-tech’ fork internals fitted after arriving at the circuit.
Right from the first early morning Friday free practice session it was apparent that Josh got on with this place. He was never very far off the pace through the day and as the suspension was adjusted; the improvements kept coming in the lap times.
Qualifying was exciting as Josh managed 12th in the first session, his best position to date, but better was to follow in session two. With 10 minutes remaining the team brought him in for a new rear tyre and with time ticking away Josh rattled off four fast laps with the final one bumping him up to fifth on the grid.
Needless to say everyone including visiting team sponsor Chris Percy of Direct cctv was over the moon and very excited about the first race later that afternoon. Race one grid line up brought more camera attention than usual as the fifteen year old was on row two. Nerves didn’t seem to bother him that much as he made a good start to the race but an incident brought out the red flag and it all had to be done again. Another decent start saw the Josh lad in place seven on lap one and slowly he started challenging the big names at the front. As the race went on he got faster as others slowed, passing the factory Kawasaki of Sebastian Diss and the factory Yamahas of Pascal Eckhart and Christian Kellner on the way up to 3rd place. He started to close down 2nd place rider Steven Michels. Suddenly Michels lost the front and crashed out, leaving Josh to take an amazing 2nd place finish to Championship leader Sascha Hommel.
Unfamiliar with uncorking the champagne, Josh was last to spray the bubbly but he was a very popular podium visitor and had himself a record to boot. He was now the youngest ever IDM Supersport rider to grace the podium! Nice one Josh!
After the press interviews and photos Josh resumed his normal kid routine of bicycle or team scooter patrol of the paddock and had this to say about the race, "I can't believe I got 2nd here. To even get into the top ten would have been great. The team have worked really well to give me a great bike this weekend with new front suspension, and Dunlop supplied me really good tyres which lasted the whole race. It was tough but I really enjoyed it. I hope I can get another good race tomorrow."
Every one else was looking at the cup and by now the empty bottle of bubbly and saying, did that really happen?
Would that unbelievable finish heap pressure on the kid for the next day’s race two? After a hectic pit lane walk we were to find out in again dry conditions. A grid interview this time as the local press got very excited to find out more about this foreign kid who was now running at the front with all the established stars.
After another decent start into the manic turn one it was obvious he had traction problems with some slides in the early laps. He managed to get a feel for the different grip conditions and as the tyre came better near mid race distance he closed from 6th to 3rd. From then on he had a 4 second gap to 2nd placed Sebastian Diss. In the last few laps he closed a second a lap to allow him challenge for 2nd, but a big slide in a flat out right hand corner lost him his momentum.
Despite this he still put a pass on Diss in the final corner but the factory backed Kawasaki had the legs, and he beat Josh in the drag race to the line by 4 hundredths of a second! Never mind another unbelievable podium for the kid, more bubbly and interviews. It was hard to take in as Team Boss Gerry Bryce commented, "We expected great results from Josh but this was a surprise! K-tech suspension, Dunlop tyres and Josh seems to be a working combination. He did a great job, and should be proud of himself."
Josh said after the race two, "Obviously I'm delighted but I struggled early on with grip. The tyre took longer to come to me. I pushed really hard to catch Sebastian Diss late in the race and was in his slipstream on the last lap. I lost time with a big slide but still tried him on the last corner. I passed him but couldn’t get turned early enough and he beat me to the line. Big thanks to the team again for a great bike and Jeremy McWilliams gave me great advice on how to deal with the tricky parts of the track."
Rider coach Jeremy McWilliams had this to say, "We are absolutely delighted with Josh's progress. Our main sponsor Chris from Direct cctv.co.uk came here today to watch Josh and it just couldn't have gone any better. This weekend the biggest change came with Josh's confidence on the new 'K tech fork', the Dunlop tyre and sheer determination. Thanks to AB tuning and everyone in the team for all their hard work. Josh was outstanding. From early testing it was obvious that Josh is something special. We are all very proud of him today."