Leon Morris becomes the 2016 Ducati TriOptions Cup champion while Sean Neary takes the last win of the year at Brands Hatch
Leon Morris becomes the 2016 Ducati TriOptions Cup Champion
Neary gets a double win to take 2nd in the championship
Rob Guiver finishes 3rd in the championship
The 2016 Ducati TriOptions Cup championship came down to the very last race of the year at the Brands Hatch today with Leon Morris (Carl Cox Motorsport / P&H Motorcycles), Rob Guiver (Hyside Motorcycles) and Sean Neary (Zoek Racing Team) all in a position to take the title.
Neary had started from pole after winning Race 1 earlier in the day, with Morris and ex-champ Robbie Brown (Boast Plumbing) making up the rest of the front row. But Guiver would have his work cut out if he was to take the title, starting from 12th in damp conditions not to his liking. Guiver had earlier in the day relinquished a championship lead of 8 points to Leon Morris and found himself with a deficit of 3 points after a disappointing race 1 result.
Neary got a great start to keep his lead with Morris close behind. The two riders showed their winning class and soon started to gap the field behind them, having built up a 2.5 second lead over Brown in 3rd by half race distance.
Despite a moment at Paddock Hill Bend in the later stages of the race Neary led to the flag to take his 3rd back-to-back win, promoting him to 2nd in the championship.
But it was Morris, who crossed the line in 2nd, who became the 2016 Ducati TriOptions Cup Champion with a total haul of 294 points and to the delight of his team. Brown claimed the last podium spot, while Guiver crossed the finish line in 7th to cement a 3rd place finish in the championship.
Final standings
Leon Morris – 294 points
Sean Neary – 289 points
Rob Guiver – 275 points
2016 Ducati TriOptions Cup Champion
Leon Morris – Carl Cox Motorsport / P&H Motorcycles
“I’m over the moon. In fact, I’m relived. To come so close, this would have been the third occasion and that petrified me. I would rather have finished 10th than finished runner up again. It’s been such a strong year and right when I needed to come good I sort of forgot how to ride a motorbike at Assen and made life hard for myself. Like I say today’ like a relief. The championship is great. But it’s the championship for the boys that I ride for. They’ve been with me 3 years now and they just deserve it so much, like I say I’ve come so close. The championship isn’t really for me. It’s a nice thing don’t get me wrong but for them, I’m just so happy to do it for them, just so, so happy. It’s great. I’ve got both my little ones with me today. It’s my youngest kid’s first meeting and my wife and lots of family are here so I’m just over the moon.”
Sean Neary – Zoek Racing Team (1stin race, 2nd in championship)
“I can’t believe it, I spend years trying to get the win and then I get three on the bounce but I knew coming into the weekend that I would try and do the double – easy said than done when I have only won one race all season. I knew I had to do that and I did it. I knew Leon and Rob would be like dogs, and they would be there but fair play to Leon he has come so close that last couple of years he has been fast wet or dry and feel gutted for Rob he has ridden well all season. I am made up for the Zoek Racing Team, Ducati Coventry and hopefully we will be back next year and try and push for number one.”
Robbie Brown – Boast Plumbing (3rd in race, 4th in championship)
“It’s obviously nice to finish on a podium and we’ve not got a destroyed bike or anything like that. Seriously, bitterly disappointed with the season. Maybe I’m not riding well enough. There’s various little things that we could do better For what ever reason we just seem to be missing a few ponies coming off the corner. We were trying to eradicate that and try and get more grip on the rear but it just doesn’t work. We saw then Neary was gone within a lap and it’s not how it should be. Last year we were always fighting for the win and this year we’re struggling to get on the podium. It’s not good enough. Whether it’s me, the bike, I don’t know. Bitterly disappointed but obviously happy to end with a podium and not a broken bone or anything like that. We’ll see what we can get from sponsors this year. It’s been great to have Boast Plumbing with me for a couple of years and I’d like to keep them on board. What we do next year is a big question mark really. I feel like I’ve proved what I need to prove in this class, maybe not this year. Certainly moving forward we’ll see. I’d like to move up but money might not allow, we’ll see.”
Rob Guiver – Hyside Motorcycles (7th in race, 3rd in championship)
“We started the weekend in real good form on Friday, a hard a strong start and I was riding really well. But to be honest I woke up this morning and saw the rain and I just have no confidence in the rain and that was it. There were a couple of wet patches in race 2 and I just lost confidence, to win the championship you need to be good in all conditions and at the moment I am just not good in the wet. Leon fully deserves it and hats off to him.”