Ballinamallard rider Josh Elliott revisits three memorable races he was involved in.

 

Saturday April  20, 2019
British Superbike Championship at Silverstone

This would be the most memorable race for me simply because it was very unexpected, I didn’t really start the season thinking I was going to win that early on. 
I had joined OMG Racing Suzuki and it was my debut season in British Superbikes so to start with a win was just so special. It is not the done thing with rookies coming into Superbike class, it usually takes them a couple of years to get up fighting at the front so to do that in the first race was incredible. 
I went into the race hoping that I would challenge in the top six and maybe a podium but to put myself in that position of winning the race and then to back it up in the next race with a second was definitely one of the most memorable weekend’s I have had to date.
I surprised myself in qualifying for the race, I qualified fourth, so I knew if I could get away with the first two or three I was giving myself a really good chance. That was the gameplan and it worked out that way. I got myself in third place early on in the race getting ahead of Scott Redding who had just come over from MotoGP so to get myself ahead of him was a big achievement. I then battled with the factory Yamaha team and their two riders the whole race and then when they came together at the end I was in a position to take advantage of it. 
It was a crazy feeling, on the last lap of the race it was going through my head what I had actually done and it was a great moment when I crossed the line. To celebrate with the team as well was amazing as it was a big achievement for them as well. It was only their second year racing and to give them a first BSB win was special. It was just a mega day.

 

Sunday October 4, 2015
British Superstock Championship at Silverstone

 

In 2015 I had a year long battle with Alastair Seeley, a very experienced multiple British champion, for the British Superstock Championship and to come out on top was a massive achievement.
This was the race that I finally sealed the title and it was also at Silverstone which is a place I have good memories from.
The race itself was quite difficult, I was up against the four very fast BMWs which are deemed the fastest bike in that class. I had put myself in pole position in qualifying but I couldn’t seem to get past them any time. They were holding me up in the corners and then when it came to the straights they would pull away. 
I had to tell myself just to be really patient in that race and not get flustered. I think earlier in that season I would have got annoyed with how it was going and would have made a mistake trying to force a pass but the experience I had learned throughout that season stood to me. 
I just kept putting myself in a position so that if anything did happen then I would be able to take advantage and get through and it was nice then on the last lap I was able to make moves into the second last corner which put me into second and I was able to wrap the championship up. I had to beat Seeley by so many points and I was able to do that. 
That year was like a breakthrough year for me and proved what I could do. I was only 21 but the riders I was up against were all previous British champions in their class.
To seal the championship with a round to go was great and to end the season over 50 points ahead of anybody else, and especially against the likes of Alastair Seeley and Tyco BMW who were a really strong team, was a massive achievement.
It was one of those years that everything happened effortlessly and it was just down to the hard work we were doing away from the track. It all gelled for me and the Morello Kawasaki team, and it also gave me self confidence because for a number of years before that I was struggling to make the breakthrough so to finally do that it helped move me forward.

 

Sunday June 20, 2015
British Superstock Championship at Snetterton

 

This was a race in the 2015 season against Alastair Seeley at Snetterton when we went head to head. It was a race track that I wasn’t expecting to win at because you basically had two one kilometre straights and the speed of the BMW was insane compared to my bike, I think it was something like 14mph faster on the straights than me.
To beat Alastair there was massive and just the way I did it. It was the last lap and a last corner move that did it for me and I took a lot of confidence and belief away from that race. I said to myself that if I can beat him here then I can beat him anywhere. That was the mindset I took from that race into the rest of the season, that was round four or five and I took a lot from it. I also think that it got a bit to Alastair as he found out that I was really going to challenge him and I don’t think he was expecting me to beat him so to do that put a statement out that I was there to challenge him.
It was an incredible race, I remember during the race I was sat behind him thinking how am I going to do this because he was pulling away that far on the straights that I was having to nail and execute every corner perfectly just to get on to his back wheel coming on to the straights and then he would pull away and I would have to get back. It was the yo-yo affect. To do the last corner move that I done I had to really execute the last sector of the race track and be on his back wheel as he tipped into the last corner and then I had to make a move and then get out of the corner without him coming past me again. A lot of things had to go right and thankfully they did and I was able to come across the line a fraction ahead of him.
That was one of the most satisfying races. Before the race we had said that if I could come away with a second it would be a really good result so to get the win was just crazy.