Gearlink Kawasaki Oulton Park - Round 9

 Dickies British Supersport

 

Mason Law secured his first Dickies Supersport win of the year for the Gearlink Kawasaki team in the Sprint race on Saturday at Oulton Park. He followed it up on Sunday with a brilliant second position. His team-mate Andrew Irwin, despite riding injured gained sixth and seventh places.

 

Mason Law has been working extremely hard over the previous rounds and has been building his confidence and it certainly was not going to be long before the youngster secured his debut win. Throughout the weekend Mason was near the top of the time sheets and he was keen for a strong result in race one. He managed to qualify in fourth place for the 12-lap race, he got a fantastic start and led after lap one. He totally controlled and dominated the race from start to finish and he rode an incredible race to take his first Dickies British Supersport win.

 

In race two he started from second place on the grid, he held this position after lap one behind Brad Ray. On lap seven he made a great pass on Ray for the lead and looked dominant, he was being pushed hard every lap by Ray and the pair had a comfortable lead. Motivating each other the two looked extremely strong and it looked like it would go to a last lap battle. However, Mason suffered a small technical problem on the final lap and had to coast home, thankfully he was still able to finish in second.

 

Andrew Irwin was still suffering after being taken out at Cadwell Park where he sustained broken ribs. Oulton Park is an extremely technical circuit and very physically demanding. Andrew rode through the pain throughout the weekend and was also riding well. He started race one from eighth for the 12-lap Sprint race. He got a great start and was fourth after lap one and then was in a chance of a podium place. The pain got the better of the likeable Ulsterman and after dropping back to eighth he was able to finish in a creditable sixth position.

 

He was placed in seventh place for the second race and held his position after lap one. He battled with Joe Francis for the entire race and despite having two broken ribs worked hard and pushed through the pain barrier to finish in a very creditable seventh place.

 

Mason Law - "This weekend has been great, a win and a second is a great achievement for us. I was disappointed today with what happened on the final lap as I felt like I could push for another win. I just lost so much power and I was lucky to get to the finish and secure second place.

 

The dynamic was different to yesterday but the race was planning out how I'd hoped. I got to see where I was losing time and where I was strong. I got to the front and set a consistent pace to wind it up and try and break away from Brad, but it just wasn't meant to be.

 

Yesterday was fantastic and I can't thank all the Gearlink Kawasaki team and all my personal sponsors enough for continuing to stand by me through the season. It was a great feeling to take the win finally and we have been working hard all year to achieve that. This is where I want to be now for the final races of the year, I don't have long to wait until Donington and I can't wait to get back out there!"

 

Andrew Irwin - "It was a tough weekend, sixth and seventh isn't what I go racing for but under the circumstances with my ribs and the muscle damage on my ribs and shoulder it wasn't the worst results in the world.

 

I knew I'd have to grit my teeth and just battle on, it was hard here as it's a very physical circuit. My focus now is on Donington to try and be as fit as I can be. I will go in the oxygen chamber this week and doing my best to get healed up and ready to battle for podiums."

 

MCE British Superbike

 

In the MCE British Superbike series, the Gearlink Kawasaki rider, Italian Vittorio Iannuzzo, had a tough weekend at the tricky Oulton Park. He had to start from the back of the grid for race one and despite his best effort was forced to pull in with a technical problem. Race two Vittorio started from 30^th place and finished in 22^nd place and for the final race of the weekend his grid position was 28^th on the grid and finished 21^st.

 

Vittorio Iannuzzo - "It was another hard weekend but with some positives on Sunday. I was having a problem finding a good connection between the power and balance of the bike. We tried a few different things on Sunday for the two races and we made some progress so I think we are going in the right direction.

 

A special thank you to Arron and Daniel as they worked really hard to give me the best bike."

 

Team Manager Michael de Bidaph - "It was a big come back here at Oulton Park for the Gearlink Kawasaki team. Mason was impeccable this weekend, we hardly made any changes from Cadwell and he was on the pace from the start.

 

He showed his true talent this weekend and we couldn't be more pleased for him with the result that he achieved. It was unfortunate he had a small technical problem on the last lap in race two as it was looking likely a double race victory. To secure a win and second place was a fantastic result and we know what we can do and hopefully achieve the same results for the rest of the season.

 

Andrew really did dig deep this weekend. He was in a lot of pain from his ribs and shoulder yet he fought on without any complaints. He has listened all weekend, finished both races and got some good points in the bag. With the injuries he was riding with at such a physically technical circuit he did a brilliant job.

 

Vittorio made some good progress this weekend and despite a couple of problems he went out today and finished both races. He was also able to have a few on track battle today and it was good to see him getting stuck in."

 

2016 GEARLINK TEAM SPONSORS

 

AKRAPOVIC - B & C EXPRESS - DAYTONA - DBR - E2E - FERIDAX - FORCEFIELD - GALFER - GB RACING - GEARLINK LTD - GOODRIDGE - HJC HELMETS - JOHNY WILLS PHOTOGRAPHY - K-TECH - MAXXIS - MOTOREX - MWR AIR FILTERS - NGK SPARK PLUGS - OXFORD PRODUCTS - PERFORMANCE PARTS - PERFORMANCE FRICTION BRAKES - PRO-BOLT - R & G RACING - RENTHAL -RICETTI - SAMCO SPORT - SCOTT LEATHERS - SHOEI HELMETS -  SIGMA PERFORMANCE - SINNIS - SKIDMARX - SOLO SIGNS - SPORT & MEDIA  -  TSUBAKI - XPRESS COFFEE

 

#31 Vittorio Iannuzo - #8 Andrew Irwin - #20 Mason Law