CORNISH'S DRAMATIC CADWELL FINALE
Following on from a troublesome previous round of the British Supermoto Championships which resulted in an injury, Norfolk based racer Lewis Cornish once again took his CRT TM UK bike to the top step of the podium at the final round at Cadwell Park, Lincs. Lewis put his bike on the front row during Saturday's 450 Elite qualifying sessions and despite being the only rider on track to lap in 1:21 Lewis finished in 4th place on the ultra fast track. Race two and Lewis was determined to make amends and following some truly spectacular overtaking at maximum speed on the up-hill Coppice corner he found himself behind former champion Chris Hodgson. Without even a thought of shutting the throttle Lewis went around the outside of his rival at absolute maximum speed with the bike heeled over on its side. This was enough to give Lewis his first win of the weekend and thanks to a runner up spot in the final race it also gave him the overall 450 Elite win and the top step of the podium. Still struggling with his injuries sustained at the previous meeting at least Sunday's weather was dry and out on slicks for the first time it was Lewis who laid down his marker early on with a stunning race one ride to take the victory from recently crowned 450 Elite champion Matt Winstanley.The duo diced at high speed but Lewis' sheer determination not to shut off over the fastest sections gave him his second victory of the weekend. Despite a poor start, race two looked promising as Lewis pushed his way past his rivals to threaten Hodgson's second place but the British Champion made an error and crashed which took the unfortunate Lewis down with him. Hodgson soon remounted and rejoined the race but Lewis was almost 3/4 of a lap behind before he was back on the tarmac. With the pack of riders so far in front it look to be an impossible task to catch them but by now Lewis wasn't in any mood to give up. Within 3 laps he had caught and passed the tail enders and by taking the fastest laps of the weekend he forced his way past rider after rider to finish in tenth position at the flag. Lewis' record lap times were over 1.2 seconds faster than the race winners time. All this with a no footrest on the right side of his bike and the handle bars bent. Unfortunately for Lewis his place on the grid for the final race was now in tenth but with the championship title still just about achievable a super aggressive start saw him fire his TM450 past most of the riders in front but as he lined up several more rivals to pass at the flat out Coppice corner he was hit by another rider and forced onto the grass at well over 100mph. Somehow Lewis managed to stay on the bike and he rejoined in the pack. He was soon making passes on his way up the field only to be involved in yet another rider's mistake which once again had him off the track. Despite once again being comfortably the fastest rider, with the race cut to a mere eight laps it was too late to make any further progress and Lewis crossed the line in fifth place which was a disappointing end to his season. Lewis explained, “I'm pleased with how Saturday went, taking the overall win and securing third place in the 2014 450 S1 Elite Championship but today at Cadwell in the Open Elite I've been real fast but I've been involved with at least four incidents caused by other riders making mistakes and crashing into me. The TMs have been perfect all year and my new team has worked real hard to get me the results, I was leading the championship until a couple of big crashes just past the mid-season point, this and the injuries have made it hard but I do feel as though I've had some unbelievably bad luck this season. But that's racing and I have proved I'm more than capable of winning and leading the championship. Next season is undecided for me and the team, we will weigh up the options and see which is the best way forward. I'd like to thank all my sponsors for their continued support and I'm so pleased to have proved all those wrong who said we couldn't run our own team. I'm really looking forward to CRT's next race in Malaysia next month and some off season training." Lewis and his CRT team mate Edgars Ivuskans will continue testing and training in preparation for their next amazing event which is at the IMF in Malaysia next month. Keep up to date with Lewis and CRT Supermoto by clicking onto www.lewiscornish.co.uk and the CRT Supermoto page on Facebook.