Gearlink Kawasaki News

The team had a solid weekend for the final round of the Motorpoint British Supersport Championship at Brands Hatch. Glenn Irwin raced his final race in the Championship for Gearlink Kawasaki as he moves up to the British Superbike series in 2016. Glenn was unfortunate to have a technical problem in race one and had to retire, however, he secured a solid podium place in race two. Ben Wilson was seventh and fifth and Luke Hedger gained two good top ten places with a ninth and eighth place respectively.

Glenn looked strong all weekend as he was still in the fight to secure second place in the Championship. Despite the mixed conditions during practice and qualifying he was in fifth position on the grid for race one. Unfortunately he had a technical problem in the first lap which forced him out of the race and meant that he had to start from 11th on the grid for race two. He got a fantastic start and was soon up to sixth place after lap one and worked his way through the leading pack to second position after lap seven. He was then locked in a scrap for the remainder of the race to finish on the podium in a great third place.

Ben worked hard all weekend and set some good times in the wet practice sessions. He ended up qualifying tenth on he grid for race one and after a great start was in a good battle for fifth place when the race was red flagged on the penultimate lap with Ben having to settle for seventh place. For race two he started from seventh on the grid to finish in a creditable fifth place.

Luke had another solid weekend in the cold conditions to qualify in ninth place on the grid for race one and finished in the same position. For race two he was eighth on the grid and secured eighth place at the finish.

James Westmoreland joined the team for the weekend riding the Kawasaki ZX-10R in the MCE British Superbike Championship. In the first practice session in wet conditions James managed to put the bike in first position for the team. They had little track time to make the changes required and despite having to retire in race one secured two 18th places in the final two races.

Team Manager Michael de Bidaph - "It has certainly been a mixed weekend for us, everything started really well during practice with the Supersports and Superbike but it went downhill after that.

It was a real shame for Glenn in the first race having a technical problem as this could have cost him second place in the Championship. It has been great to work with Glenn over the last couple of years and i am really pleased he has been given such a great opportunity in the Superbike class next year and we wish him all the luck. Ben and Luke also rode well this weekend wih all three riders in the top ten results over the weekend.

It was great to have James Westmoreland with us for the final round, we made a lot of progress despite the lack of testing and dry track time and the results did not justify the effort James put in.

Lastly i would like to thank all our sponsors who have backed and supported us all season, without them we would not be able to go racing and we really appreciate all the help they give us."

It was a fantastic weekend for the team at the penultimate round of the Motorpoint British Supersport Championship at Silverstone. Glenn Irwin was third in the Sprint race and then took a brilliant victory in race two. Ben Wilson was seventh in race one and secured his best result of the year in race two with fourth. Luke Hedger was ninth in race one and a solid sixth in race two.

The team made some suspension changes and this made a big difference to the rider performance. Glenn looked strong all weekend and managed to qualify for the Sprint race in second place. He got a great start and was in a constant battle for second place but got pushed back to third in the final lap.

He was third on the grid for the second race and after another brilliant start saw him get away with the leaders moving into second place after the opening lap. The safety car was deployed after a couple of laps and Glenn made the most of this and took to the front in lap five. He was then locked in a close battle for the lead finally moving to the front with three laps to go and managing to keep a small gap to take his third victory of the season and third in the championship.

It was also a good weekend for Ben and despite a lower qualifying position than he had hoped for in ninth place for the first race he got a great start moving up to fifth place eventually finishing in seventh. For race two he started from sixth place on the grid, got a fantastic start and was soon battling for a podium position finally finishing in fourth place for his best result of the season.

Luke had a big crash in qualifying which hindered his progress in the races to follow. Despite feeling sore he still managed to bring the bike home in a creditable ninth place in race one and a great sixth place in race two.

Jed Metcher, in just his second round for the team, had a difficult weekend in the MCE British Superbike Championship but still managed to achieve two 20th place finishes despite struggling to get out on track for the qualifying sessions. 

Team Manager Michael de Bidaph - " I am really pleased with the results in the Supersport class this weekend especially in the second race. It was great to see Glenn take another win and he fought hard all weekend for the results he achieved and they were well deserved.

We made some changes to the suspension this weekend and it helped us take a big step forward with development and the riders were all pleased with it.

It was good to see Ben back to his old form and achieving the results that he is more than capable of and we hope now that we can end the season on a high note with all three Supersport riders. Luke was hindered by his crash but still rode really well to get the results he did. 

We are still deciding which direction to go with the Superbike but we will keep plugging away to try to get some decent results".