BENNETTS SUZUKI POSITIVE FOR SILVERSTONE BSB

Ryuichi Kiyonari will start from the fourth row of the grid on his Bennetts Suzuki debut for tomorrow’s opening MCE British Superbike race of the season, after qualifying in 10th place in tricky conditions at Silverstone, with team-mate Tommy Bridewell starting from 13th.

Both Kiyonari and Bridewell comfortably progressed from Q1 without taking too many risks in the conditions that could easily catch riders out, before starting strongly in Q2.

Despite missing the cut for Q3, the team is feeling positive with the potential shown so far and is confident ahead of tomorrow's races.

Ryuichi Kiyonari:

“I’m feeling really good and there’s definitely more to come in the races. We have improved in every session and I have felt good in both the wet and the dry, and we’ve got some things to try in warm up tomorrow. Our lap times have been consistent, which is good. Qualifying was not so great but it’s not a bad position, and I think our race pace will be good, even if we have bad weather. I’m enjoying riding the bike and working with the team, and looking forward to the races.”

Tommy Bridewell:

“I’m happy enough to be honest. The bike feels good and I genuinely feel really good on it. I think we’ve got a lot better potential than we showed in qualifying. We’ve been plugging away with the limited track time we’ve had and kept it simple with the bike and made some small changes here and there as we go. It’s not an ideal grid position but I’m not panicking and think we’ll be strong over race distance. It’ll be elbows out, try and latch onto the guys further up the grid, and have a go.”

Martin Halsall - Team Owner:

“It’s not where we wanted to be on the grid for tomorrow, but everyone’s still in really high spirits and feeling very positive. Kiyo just missed out on Q3 but I’ve never seen him with such a smile on his face. He came back in and got off the bike with a huge grin, and it’s great to see him really enjoying riding the big Suzuki, and bodes well for tomorrow’s races as we know the potential is there with him and the package. Tommy's really happy too and again, feels really good on the bike. I think we'll see more from him tomorrow over the course of the race.”

Silverstone BSB Qualifying Result: 1. Leon Haslam, 2. Jason O’Halloran, 3. Christian Iddon, 4. Shane Byrne, 5. Luke Mossey. 10. Ryuichi Kiyonari (Bennetts Suzuki). 13. Tommy Bridewell (Bennetts Suzuki).