Gearlink Kawasaki News

The team had another solid round of the Motorpoint British Supersport Championship at Brands Hatch. Glenn Irwin secured a second podium of the Championship so far with second and fourth places respectively, his team mate Ben Wilson gained two sixth places.

Glenn was riding well all weekend and following a strong qualifying was second on the grid for the first race. A lightning start saw him gain the hole-shot but eventually had to settle for a tightly fought second place, fending off the third place rider by just 0.1 second.

For race two Glenn was third on the grid and again got a great start and led for the first three laps and was locked in a four way battle eventually having to settle for fourth place, he is now fourth in the Championship.

Ben Wilson is still playing catch up following his year in the Superbike class and is taking a little longer than planned to find his rhythm on the Kawasaki ZX-6R. He pushed hard all weekend improving his times in each session. Qualifying times were so close that despite being only 0.8 second off pole he qualified in 13th place. He got one of his brilliant starts in race one moving up to seventh place in lap one eventually finishing a creditable sixth.

In the second race he started from eighth place on the grid and soon moved up to sixth in lap one and was locked in a four bike battle but still managed to finish in a solid sixth place.

In the MCE British Superbike Championship, Gearlink Kawasaki gained the services of the extremely talented and experienced Michael Rutter to ride the Kawasaki ZX-10R Superbike. Michael has had many years riding at Superbike level and was eager to help the team improve the bike. As the weekend progressed he drastically cut his lap times and made huge steps forward despite no previous experience on the bike. He qualified in 24th place for the first race but had to pull into the pits with a small technical problem. For the second race he finished in 27th place.

Team Manager Michael De Bidaph - "It was a pleasure to have Michael Rutter in the team this weekend. He brought a wealth of knowledge and experience to the team, he had never ridden the bike before and we knew it would be a tough weekend for him. We made several changes to suit his style and managed to finish the second race with him feeling much more confident on the bike. His input to the team this weekend was invaluable and i would personally like to thank him for that, he was a huge asset to the the team. We hope he will ride again for us in the next race at Oulton Park to further develop the bike but we know his main priority is the North West 200 and the TT.

We worked really hard on the Supersport machines and had a much better set-up here than at Donington but we know we must improve the speed of the bikes. The Yamaha and Triumph's are super quick and we know we have to do something to ensure that we can stay with them during the races. Glenn's results were not what he and the team wanted but he could not have tried any harder. Ben is not where he wants to be yet but as the season progresses his form will improve."