By Barry Russell
Continuing his winter break in Thailand, British Superbike and Irish roads racer, Gary Johnson, got some competitive track time in at the final round of the R2M Thailand Superbikes 2010 Championship at the Thailand Circuit last weekend, coming away with a win.
Gary was riding a track day machine belonging to a friend, Thai-based businessman and racer, Graham Knight. “Gaz did bloody well considering he was riding my old 2004 ZX-10R with the wrong gearing and a loose left hand handlebar. Bless him he hardly complained about anything,” he said. “Obviously the cool confidence got to the Yamaha Petronas rider who got a bit over excited early in the race and binned it!”
When I spoke to him on the phone last night, Gary was full of praise for the track and the event. “It’s a great circuit and the race was a lot of fun. The track is a succession of lefts and rights and I couldn’t countersteer because of the loose handlebar, so I was having to turn the bike with my knee, which was not ideal, but we came through and won.”
“The event was really well organised and we should get more British riders out here because they just don’t know what they’re missing,” he added.
Track owner, broadcaster and motorsports impresario, Khun Kraitos Wongsawan, who is also the FIM representative for Thailand commented, “It was great to have Gary here. He is a charming guy and having a world-class racer at the final round is great for the sport in Thailand. We would very much like to welcome him and more top riders here next season.”
Khun Kraitos generously let us have access to his complete album of photos from the event. As well as some great action shots, it appears that a raceday in Thailand has more than its fair share of glamour!
For more information about motorsports and trackdays in Thailand check out the links below.
Join the discussion on this story in our forum
