Gearlink Kawasaki News

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.