With the track rapidly drying out, Joe struggled with the grip longevity of his Pirelli tyres. Battling with Midge Smart and Paul Young over the closing stages, the 25-year old narrowly missed out on his first point scoring finish of the season, crossing the finish line in 17th for the second race in succession.

Joe will now look ahead to the re-scheduled opening round at Brands Hatch GP next weekend, 10/11 May, to turn his season round.

Rob McElnea, Team Principal: “Joe is struggling to get his confidence this season, we all know what he and the bike are capable of. Joe ran well in the wet conditions but hasn’t quite found the pace in the dry yet. Brands gives Joe another opportunity to re-visit a circuit that he has already ridden on the bike, he still has time to turn his season around.”

Tickets, for the weekend and race day will be valid for the re-scheduled meet, so hold on to them.  All grid positions will remain the same, as well as the racing programme.  See below for full details …

PRESS RELEASE :  Brands Hatch organisers

Extensive snowfalls at Brands Hatch this morning have caused the opening round of the Bennetts British Superbike championship to be abandoned.   At 11.15am Sunday morning Jonathan Palmer, Chief Executive of MotorSport Vision, the owner of Brands Hatch, announced that following a review of circuit conditions and the latest forecast, the meeting would be cancelled for the day.

“It is bitterly disappointing for all the fans who have come and of course for all the teams and organisations including the Brands Hatch team who have put so much into this weekend”, said Palmer.  “Apart from the inability to put on the great show fans expect from BSB, safety is our number one priority and this must not be compromised”.

“I have been very eager however to see if we could find a way not to just cancel, but postpone the first Brands Hatch event.   Fortunately a major benefit of MSV now running BSB is that following a review of our calendar, I am delighted to be able to immediately announce that we have rescheduled this meeting which will now take place on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit on 10/11 May.”

“All race day, weekend and grandstand tickets for today’s event will be valid for the new date with no extra charge.   The grids for all of the races within the BSB programme will be as set yesterday, 5 April.   The 10/11 May date was scheduled to be a BMCRC meeting and some races from this will be incorporated into the BSB event.”

“I am so sorry that so many people have had a frustrating day of uncertainty but can assure everyone we have done everything possible to minimise the disruption of such extreme weather in April.”

Jonathan Palmer
Brands Hatch Sunday 6 April 2008

Joe stamped his mark on the grid posting a pole time of 1:33.157 with 4 minutes to go. Struggling to find some clear track, Joe suffered a little with traffic and could not better his time, eventually dropping down to 6th as the chequered flag dropped.

The dry Qualifying 2 session shook up the running order for the final places. Joe struggled to pick up the pace and as the session continued, a short burst of rain mid-session brought him back into the garage. With only minutes to go back out on track, Joe eventually ended up just behind his counterpart, BJ Toal in 15th place.

Joe Dickinson: “That wasn’t as we planned, I’m really disappointed to be honest. I’ve got a lot of work to do tomorrow to turn it around, but I’ll be there giving it my best.”

Qualifying 1 - Classification
1) Richards (Truimph), 2) Kennaugh (Yamaha), 3) BJ Toal (Virgin Media Yamaha), 4) Brogan (Honda), 5) Hobbs (Honda), 6) Joe Dickinson (Trucklinks Yamaha), 7) Webb (Honda), Owens (Honda), 9) Beech (Yamaha), 10) Cooper (Honda), 27) Nick Medd (Virgin Media Yamaha)

Qualifying 2 - Classification
1) Kennaugh (Yamaha), 2) Richards (Triumph), 3) McGuinness (Honda), 4) Fitzpatrick (Yamaha), 5) Martin (Kawasaki), 6) Brogan (Honda), 7) Hobbs (Honda), Lowry (Suzuki), 14) BJ Toal (Virgin Media Yamaha), 15) Joe Dickinson (Trucklinks Yamaha), 34) Nick Medd (Virgin Media Yamaha)