It was a weekend of highs and
lows for the Gearlink Kawasaki team at round two of the Dickies British
Supersport Championship at Oulton Park over the Bank Holiday weekend. Luke
Hedger managed to secure a solid fifth place in race one and gained a fantastic
podium with second place in race two. Mason Law had another troublesome weekend
and was eighth in race one and was forced to pull out of race two with a
technical problem.
Luke worked hard throughout the
practice sessions to find a suitable base setting on the Kawasaki ZX-6R.
Everything fell into place for qualifying and he managed to end up in fourth
place for the opening Sprint race on Saturday. Luke had a bad start in race one
and dropped back to seventh place on lap one but he soon settled into a rhythm
and started to work his way back up through the pack. He got into fifth place
when the race was red flagged on lap ten.
He was placed fifth on the grid
for race two and got a fantastic start and was up to third when the safety car
was deployed on the opening lap to clear debris from an accident. The race got
underway again on lap four and Luke worked his way through to second and was
locked in a battle with Tarran Mackenzie. Both riders were being hunted down by
James Westmoreland. Luke and James were battling with each other for the final
podium position, when Tarran crashed out on lap 11 due to rain and the race was
red flagged. Luke secured a brilliant second place for the Gearlink Kawasaki
team.
Mason Law really struggled
throughout the weekend at Oulton Park and found it hard to find a set-up he was
happy with on his Gearlink Kawasaki. They changed several aspects on the bike
over the three days to try and help Mason progress with his times. He ended up
qualifying in 13th place for the Sprint race on Saturday. He worked
extremely hard over the race to work his way through the field and he managed to
bring home eighth position.
In morning warm-up Mason had a
big crash at Shell corner and was taken to the medical centre to be assessed,
where he was declared ok and fit to ride. He moved a row forward for race two
and started from 12th position. Despite feeling sore Mason gave it
his best shot and was in ninth position when he was forced to retire with a
technical problem.
Luke Hedger - "I'm really happy about this
weekend and to finally get the ball rolling. I had a disaster at Silverstone and
it's really good to be back on the podium. Saturday was a tough day but we
finally managed to get the bike working well for qualifying and I managed to
have two really good races.
In the second race I could see
the rain coming in over the hill and was hoping it wouldn't catch us out. I
wanted to fight hard for a podium and thought the red flag was for Taz but it
was for the rain. It's great to be back up on the podium and hope it will
continue for the rest of the season.I have to say a big thank you to SRS, my
personal sponsors and friends and family."
Mason Law - "It was a really tough weekend
to be honest; we had a few problems with the bike and set-up. The crash was
pretty big in morning warm-up, I just want to move on from this weekend and come
back stronger at Brands Hatch towards the end of May. It was tough this weekend
for myself and the team, we need to put it down as experience, move on and build
a better package for the next round."
MCE British
Superbike
In the MCE British Superbike
series, the Gearlink Kawasaki rider, Italian Vittorio Iannuzzo had a mixed
weekend and sustained a crash in the opening race and was able to finish in a
strong 18th position in race two. The first time he rode at Oulton
Park was the test the week prior to the race and he has never raced there
especially in the weather conditions that were present over the
weekend.
Vittorio
Iannuzzo - "It
has been a crazy weekend. Oulton Park is a new track for me, we had mad weather
over the weekend and every session was different.
Everything was very difficult to
learn in such a short period of time here, the track is very hard to learn and
with the mixed weather it made track time very limited. In the end I am happy
that we managed to finish race two and we have made some good steps forward
here.
I want to thank to all the
Gearlink Kawasaki team because they worked so hard to fix my bike after the
crash in race one and they gave me the chance to go back out and finish the
second race. I hope at Brands our season will begin properly."
Team Manager Michael de
Bidaph - "It was
another really tough weekend for the Gearlink Kawasaki team. We are really
pleased that Luke was able to salvage something and secure us a podium from his
race today.
It was a hard weekend with the
conditions but with Vittorio and Mason both suffering crashes, it is something
we never want to see.
It was good for Luke to get two
good finishes this weekend as he had a tough time at Silverstone and great for
him to have gained a podium for the team.
It was unfortunate for Mason with
his crash and the technical problem, we hope to have everything fixed and sorted
out for Brands Hatch.
Vittorio once again worked really
hard with the Superbike and made a lot of progress on a track he has never raced
at before. He never gives up and it is a real credit to him, we hope we can
improve and continue with him for the remainder of the season."
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