Josh Elliott tops the podium at Brands Hatch.
Josh Elliott underlined his credentials as 2015 British Superstock 1000cc champion with victory in the final race of the season at Brands Hatch.
Elliott had clinched the championship at Silverstone two weeks ago, but wasn’t about to rest on his laurels for the season finale.
He took victory with a typically strategic ride which saw him spook race leader Hudson Kennaugh in the closing stages and drive home for the win.
“It was a hard race, but fun at the same time. I got a poor start off the line and gave myself a lot of work to do, but once I got into second place I really put a big effort into catching Hudson [Kennaugh],” said Elliott.
“Lap by lap I was catching him and starting to put the pressure on and eventually he cracked just as I was on his back wheel. He crashed at turn two on the last lap and all I had to do was bring it home.
“I was actually quite surprised, but the pressure definitely got to Hudson. After the race he said to me that he felt the pressure coming on and he was over-riding the bike. That’s a bit of a complement to me. It’s nice to know that a rider of his experience feels the pressure when I’m coming up behind them.
“It was obviously nice to be in a position to be able to catch him too. The whole bike just works really well. It’s a credit to the team and the crew for giving me such a good race bike. Special thanks to my Morello Racing team as they improved the Kawasaki ZX-10R every session over a difficult weekend with changeable weather.
“It couldn’t really have gone any better, especially to finish on the top step. It was a dream come true, it’s the way I wanted to end the season. I was always going to go into the last round with the motivation to win even though I’d won the championship. I still wanted to go out and prove why I was champion and show what I could do. To end it with a win was pretty special for everyone.”
The win is Elliott’s fifth of the season and completes an incredible year for the 21-year-old rider which saw him amass a slew of fastest laps, 11 podiums from 12 races and a 52 point margin over his main rival in the championship standings.
“We’ve learned a lot,” said Elliott. “This is our third season with Kawasaki. Our mechanic Dougie [Randall], my Dad and myself all sit down and try and get the best out of the bike. We’ve had the help of World Championship crew chief, Andrew Stone, too. We’re on the phone to him trying to get the best out of the bike. It’s a very competitive championship and unless you and your bike are 100 percent every single time you’re not going to be winning. It’s been a great year, a massive learning year and hopefully we can take it on to 2016.”
Elliott is back on home soil now, but there won’t be much time to rest and recuperate as the business takes priority for the foreseeable future. But when you’ve just romped to a British Superstock championship victory, the problems are all good ones.
“Because I’ve won the championship we’ve got a few events to go to, a few big shows for Kawasaki,” said Elliott. “We’ll just try and get the head down now and sort out a deal for 2016. We’re obviously looking towards Superbike, getting the right package around me and the right people. We’re going to be kept busy doing that. We’re looking to settle on that in the next two weeks. The opportunities are good and we just have to get the right sponsors.”
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