The penultimate round of the Pata European Junior Cup ended with a 7th place finish in the restarted and reduced 5 lap race at the Jerez circuit for IDWe Racing’s Sam Wilford, a result which keeps him in contention for a top 6 finish overall when the series draws to a close at Magny-Cours in a fortnight.
Wilford, who set the EJC lap record 12 months ago qualified 12th after struggling with set up during qualifying and didn’t make things easy with a poor start in the initial first part to the race.
A red flag at the start of lap 6 meant a shortened 5 lap re-run with Sam starting from 10th, and after another poor start the Portimao podium finisher dug deep to move into 7th at the flag after an intense four rider fight from start to finish.
Sam Wilford – 7th position: “Not the best weekend for me. I struggled with suspension set-up from FP1 until the race and wasn’t fast enough at the start so I lost touch with the leading group. The second start was also pretty poor but at the end I managed to get 7th just ahead of 3 other riders. I would like to thank everyone who supported me at the weekend, especially John from Nitro & Co for all their help over the weekend.”
Sunday’s result moves Sam into 9th overall in the championship standings, a mere 8 points from 5th with one round to go.
