LEWIS’ SEASON GOES GLOBAL
Norfolk based Lewis Cornish has just completed a truly manic four weekends of top level supermoto racing. The 22 year old CRT TMUK racer suffered a mechanical failure at round three of the British Supermoto Championships at Crail in Scotland three weeks ago. Lewis was chasing down the leader in the final 450 Elite race when engine problems saw him retire from a safe second place. Undeterred Cornish packed his gear bag and used his allocated luggage allowance to ship race tyres to Malaysia to compete in the opening rounds of the FIM Asia Supermoto Championship where n a borrowed Kenny Motoworks KTM, in 38 degree temperatures and in front of an estimated 47000 race fans he took on the very best racers from all over Asia and put on a stellar performance o take both race wins and the top step of the podium. His fitness levels were tested in the stifling humidity of the Kuala Lumpur circuit but he proved to be more than a match for all his competitors including Japanese champion HRC 'Factory' racer Kiyoshi Saai. With little time to rest on his laurels Lewis once more boarded a long haul flight to Sydney to compete in the Austrialian supermoto Championships on the Newcastle street circuit. Suffering from fatigue and jet lag and unlike his rivals Lewis had zero bike testing on his Crushtek KTM so it was always going to be tough. In front of a 20000+ crowd Lewis scored a couple of comfortable runner up positions in the first two races behind fellow countryman Chris Hodgson. Lewis was determined to challenge for he lead on day two, however lady luck went against him in race three as the exhaust was damaged in contact with a track side barrier and the bike was lacking in power as he nursed it home in third place. With all too play for in the final race Lewis was pushing Hodgson hard and then his rival made a small error which saw him crash immediately in front of him. With nowhere to go he as lucky to escape the incident unscathed but this allowed local rider McLeish to pull a lead. As the laps wound down Cornish was hunting down the leader but another incident with a stalled back parker saw Lewis' chances of victory slip away as he once again finished runner up. With little or no time to loose, the globetrotting young racer once again boarded a flight for the long haul back home just in time for last weekend's fourth round of the British Championship at Rednal near the Welsh borders. Lewis continued his run of impressive results by taking the race and overall win in 1 450 Elite and being the only racer to be running sub a 1:10 lap times. Page 2 of 3 Lewis explained, "I'm lucky to have been given the opportunity to race in the Far East and Australia by Kenny Lee and Bryan Rankin. It’s been a tough few weeks but I'm really pleased with my pace and the results on borrowed bikes in difficult circumstances. I'm planning to ship one of my own TM450s out for the next race in Bangkok next month and this should give me a much easier time. Everyone in KL and NSW has made me most welcome and I'd like to thank everyone involved for making it all happen. Well done too Chris for lifting the Australian Championship despite the broken hand he suffered in that last race crash. Now it’s time for me to build on my victory at Rednal and challenge for the title, fingers crossed the mechanical gremlins and bad luck are now behind me."
CRT Supermoto would like to thank Kenny Lee & Justin See (Malaysia) and Bryan & Rochelle Rankin (Australia).Keep up to date with Lewis and CRT Supermoto by clicking onto www.lewiscornish.co.uk and the CRT Supermoto page on Facebook.
CRT Supermoto would like to thank Kenny Lee & Justin See (Malaysia) and Bryan & Rochelle Rankin (Australia).Keep up to date with Lewis and CRT Supermoto by clicking onto www.lewiscornish.co.uk and the CRT Supermoto page on Facebook.
