Gearlink Kawasaki News

It was another strong weekend for the team at round six of the Dickies British Supersport Championship at the Brands Hatch GP circuit. Andrew Irwin gained a good fourth place in race one and followed it up with third place in race two and his team mate Ben Currie was sixth and fifth.

Andrew worked hard with the team all weekend to find a good set-up but was caught out by the rain during the qualifying session and started race one from seventh place. Tyre choice become an issue on a drying track following an earlier downpour. Although struggling with the tyres he rode well to secure a well earned fourth place.

For race two he was placed eighth on the grid and got his usual great start that put him into fourth place after lap one. He was soon locked into a battle with two other riders and moved into the lead in the closing laps but was ran slightly wide in the last lap to finish on the podium in a hard fought third place. 

Ben continued his consistent form during the races despite a crash during a practice session. He qualified in ninth place on the grid for race one, pushed hard from the start and was able to finish in a creditable sixth place.

For race two he started from fourth but was unable to push forward for that overdue podium position despite some strong lap-times, having to settle for fifth place.

It was looking set to be a strong weekend for James Westmoreland in the MCE British Superbike Championship as the team made some great progress in the practice and qualifying sessions with their best performance of the season with a qualifying position of ninth place. The race results sadly did not reflect the effort and the progress that was made. James finished in 18th place in race one and had to pull in from race two with a technical problem.

Team Manager Michael de Bidaph - " Andrew and Ben have been really consistent all weekend in the Supersport class. We made a wrong call for both riders on tyres for race one but both of them made the best of a bad situation and still secured some good results.

Andrew is riding so well at the moment and is so close to his debut win. He did nothing wrong all weekend and rode exceptionally well in the races. I hope he gets the win that he deserves soon.

We are working strongly with Ben to help develop and move him forward in the series. He certainly has the pace but something is missing at the moment so we are working hard to put the pieces together. He is certainly capable of good things.

We were really excited about the Superbike races this weekend as we made some really good progress and it showed with the times that James was achieving in the practice and qualifying sessions. Sadly the races let us down so we will continue to investigate what is going on and keep progressing."

It was a varied weekend for the team at round 5 of the Dickies British Supersport Championship at the Snetterton 300 Circuit. Andrew Irwin was forced to retire in the first race with a clutch problem but bounced back to take a fantastic debut win in the second race. Ben Currie was fourth in race one and retired in race two.

Andrew was fast all weekend and qualified for the first race in fourth place on the grid. He got off to a good start and was fourth after lap one but soon started to go backwards through the pack, finally pulling into pit lane. The team tried to fix the problem and Andrew returned to the track to finish a lap down in 19th place. It was later discovered there was a clutch problem.

For race two he started from seventh position on the grid and held his position after lap one but was soon in a dice for the lead. He took the lead on lap ten and was in a three way dice for the lead with the Spirit machine first over the line with Andrew second just 0.06 seconds in front of the third placed rider. As the Spirit bike is not eligible for points it was Andrew that was given his debut win in this Championship. However, it is subject to an investigation for a possible infringement for passing under a yellow flag and a decision will be made at the next meeting at Brands Hatch. Ben Currie was fourth in race one and retired in race two.

Ben started from 6th position on the grid for race one and he got a fantastic start and went through to third place in the first lap to finally finish in  great fourth place.

He was placed in fifth place on the grid for race two and had another great start to move him up to second place in the opening lap. He was involved in a five bike scrap including his team-mate but sadly crashed out on lap eight whilst in fourth place.

James Westmoreland and the team made very good progress with improving times throughout the weekend in the MCE British Superbike Championship. He started from 17th position on the grid for race one, finishing 16th. For race two he started from 20th position and finished in 17th place.

Team Manager Michael de Bidaph -"It was a bit of a struggle this weekend to find a good set-up on the Supersport bikes at Snetterton. We managed to get something to work with for both Ben and Andrew for the first race. Andrew made an error early on and burnt the clutch on the line, we managed to get him back in the pits and send him back out to ensure everything was ok. Ben rode really well and I was pleased with the fourth place he gained.