Josh Elliott was rushed to hospital after two crashes at Salzburgring at the weekend and although thankfully the Fermanagh teenager was OK after his crashes he was kept in at Salzburg hospital overnight for observation. His first crash came in Friday's free practice when he was 'hi-sided' off his Honda on one of the few left hand corners. A hard tyre and lack of circuit knowledge was the most likely causes for the incident, but he was able to continue with the weekend's schedule despite being sore. Unfortunately this discomfort and a difficult set of conditions with the changing weather hampered his qualifying and he started race one from 20th place.
Jeremy McWilliams, who considers Josh as something of a protege, fared a lot better and the veteran racer started from sixth on the grid on a drying track after a shower.
Elliott fell on lap two, again on a left hander when the front wheel washed out as soon as he tipped in. It was originally thought he had been touched from behind but that now does not seem to be the case. He possibly didn't have the tyre up to temperature or took a wider line than usual, but nevertheless he had a big impact on the straw bales against an armco barrier.
Xrays showed nothing was broken, but he was held overnight for observation. He was released after no further complications were reported.
Jeremy broke to the front in race one at half distance, but the fast straights at Salzburgring allowed Sascha Hommel to catch him with slipstreaming moves on his faster machine. Despite a sublime effort McWilliams could do nothing as Hommel slipstreamed past on the last lap to take the win.
In race two McWilliams rode another superb race but this time with much hotter weather, his bike was not performing as well. he struggled on the straights yet somehow amazingly made up time on the corners up to third place near the end. Again last lap slipstreaming by faster machines dealt him a poor hand and he just missed out on another podium in 4th place.
McWilliams hopes to be at the ISB event at Kirkistown on 14th July.
