Gearlink Kawasaki News

It was mixed weekend for the team in the Dickies British Supersport Championship at the Silverstone National Circuit. Ben Wilson made  welcome return to the Championship after a three year absence due to a terrible broken leg incurred in the NW 200. In his debut race he finished 13th in the first race and 15th in the second. New recruit to the team, Ross Twyman, was forced to retire in race one due to an overheating problem and was 19th in race two.

This season the team are racing the new Kawasaki ZX-6R 636 and therefore do not have the data or set-up at any of the circuits so are slightly on the the back foot. Ben was pushing hard all weekend and managed to qualify in in 16th place. He got a steady start and worked his way up to 11th place before a small problem saw him drop back a couple of places to finish in a creditable overall 13th place but 10th after discounting the GP2 bikes.

In race two he started from 14th place and fought hard to finish in an overall 15th place and 12th after discounting the GP2 bikes which are not competing in the Supersport Chanpionship. Considering what he has been through he is in a very creditable 10th place in the Championship.

Ross who joined the tean this year has been struggling to adapt to riding the Kawasaki after spending most of his riding career riding another brand of bike. He continued to make progress throughout the weekend and qualified in 22nd place for the first race. He soon made some places moving up to 17th but the bike started to overheat and he was forced to retire.

For race two he started again from 22nd place finishing in 19th and just in the points after discounting the GP2 bikes.

In the Bennetts British Superbike Championship the team continues to run the Kawasaki ZX-10R but now in its new livery. Fraser Rogers was consistent throughout the weekend with his times but with everything so close struggled to get a good position. He started race one from 28th on the grid and fought through to finish 20th. For the second race he started from 25th but was forced to retire due to a technical problem.

Team Manager Michael de Bidaph - "It was really tough weekend for the entire team. It has been hard with the new Kawasaki 636 as we were under the understanding that the chassis was the same but we found out that it was not. So we were unable to transfer data we had from previous seasons on the 600 to the new bike. We are working closely with Ohlins to get the correct measurements and hopefully can make more progress at Oulton Park. I know everyone worked really hard this weekend and it was unfortunate we could not pick up our usual results but once the correct settings are achieved we should be able to be back near the front again.

Fraser worked hard on the Superbike again and made steady progress throughout the weekend. It was unfortunate we had a problem in race two but we will work hard to ensure everything is right for Oulton.

It is definitely a weekend to put behind us now and move forwards."