Jack Brunell pulls pulls it out of the bag in Birmigham
By Sean Lawless on 27th Jan 16
Following the series-ending injury sustained by Fabien Izoird at Birminghams Genting Arena on Sunday there was some Monster Energy Arenacross consolation for Steve James.
Steve, who had already been hit by the shock departure of Josh Hansen from the tour on Saturday, was delighted to see Jack Brunell – who had been the American's team-mate on the SJR Kawasaki team – finish third in Sunday's Main Event and Flo Richier, Fabien's team-mate, come home second.
It was a nerve-shredding final after first Fabien and then Cedric Soubeyras crashed out of successive starts, causing the race to be red-flagged twice. "The final was a bit crazy with two red flags and it starts to play on your mind about going out on track again,” said Jack.
"I'd like to wish both Fabien and Cedric all the best and hope they will be okay. For me though the final was good as I started well and just plugged away at it every lap.
"And then in the final few laps I worked my way into third and onto the podium so I'm well happy with that and looking forward to Newcastle next weekend.”
Steve was keen to draw as many positives as possible from the weekend.
"After the second re-start of the Main Event it was an amazing race ending with another double podium for us with Jack third for SJR and Flo second for LPE,” he said.
"They did an awesome job for the teams to salvage something from what had been a crazy weekend.
"Everyone was sad for Fabien but this helped take something back.
"I want to say well done to them all.”
With four rounds remaining Fabien leads Cedric (Geartec Yamaha) by four points with defending champion Thomas Ramette (SR75 Molson Racing Suzuki) – who won both Birmingham Main Events – a further three points back.
In the team championship SR75 Molson Racing Suzuki has a 31-point lead over LPE Kawasaki.
