By Bernard Toleman
June 15 2004

Following on from the team’s fifth outright in British Superbikes at Thruxton the previous weekend, James Ellison and Jentin Racing continued their run of strong form with a magnificent seventh place finish in the second World Superbike race at a sun drenched Silverstone. The result for the solitary British wildcard entry amongst the world championship regulars was the highest finish for a Yamaha in World Superbikes since 2000, when Japanese ace Noriyuki Haga finished second in the championship.

The Jentin Racing team had a steady build up to the weekend, setting the fifteenth quickest time for the first qualifying session, followed by an eleventh in the second and then a truly sensational seventh quickest Superpole time, ensuring that James and the team made the second row of the grid for their first ever World Superbike race.

Ellison’s hard work was sadly undone in the first race following a huge crash at the high speed Copse corner, on the second lap. The front end of the bike went away from him at 120mph, with both James and the bike sliding across the circuit and into the gravel trap, leaving James thankfully unhurt but with, nevertheless, a fair amount of damage to the Jentin Yamaha.

The whole team then worked non-stop for the three hours between the two races to rebuild the Yamaha YZF-R1, and successfully got Ellison to the start of race two with the bike in pretty good shape with just minutes to spare.

Ellison had a typically good start and was sixth after the first lap. He dropped to seventh and then was briefly promoted to fifth after Chili and Toseland collided. He was later caught by Toseland and then Martin at mid-distance, but managed to hold his pace and saw the race out to the flag in a remarkable seventh place, ahead of a string of world class riders on the world’s best Superbikes.

Ellison said that he was more than satisfied with the weekend’s efforts. “To set the seventh quickest time in Superpole was more than we expected, and it was really disappointing that I came off in the first race. The front end of the bike just went away from me, and it was a bit of a wild ride. The boys worked wonders to get the R1 back together for race two and to finish seventh was just awesome.”

Team manager Bernard Toleman was on a real high after another sensational performance by Ellison and the hard working team. “Our fifth outright last weekend at Thruxton was fantastic, but the performance by James this weekend against the World Superbike outfits was quite superb. Both myself and my partner Jon Poole just could not be more pleased with the performance of our team this weekend. James has drawn every last ounce of performance from the bike and I believe it’s the best performance by a Yamaha in World Superbikes for several years. We must now try to carry this momentum through to Brands Hatch next weekend, where the next round of the British Superbike championship takes place on the grand prix circuit.”