Dickies British
Supersport
Gearlink Kawasaki had a tough end
to the 2016 Dickies British Supersport Championship with Andrew Irwin. The young
Ulsterman rode really hard all weekend to secure some strong points in the last
race of the season at Brands Hatch. Andrew managed to gain a 12th and
6th place respectively.
Andrew Irwin was eager to finish
the Dickies Supersport Championship on a high note. He was working hard to find
a set-up on the Gearlink Kawasaki throughout practice and qualifying. He
struggled during qualifying and ended up starting race one from 13th
position. Despite a fantastic start, climbing several places on the opening lap
up to eighth he struggled with grip and dropped back through the pack to finish
in 12th.
For race two he had to start from
13th place again, he got an amazing start and was third into turn
two. He was looking really strong and moved through on Tarran Mackenzie up to
second place and was looking safe to take his maiden podium of the season.
However, the race was forced to be red flagged after James Westmoreland crashed
heavily and re-started over nine laps.
Andrew started well on the
re-start and was sitting in fourth place but he made a mistake on lap two going
into turn one, which ran him wide and lost him several places. He dropped back
to seventh and made a good move on Luke Hedger to move him up to sixth where he
finished.
Andrew Irwin -
"The weekend
just didn't seem to click for me, I don't know why but I just couldn't piece the
jigsaw together. It was really frustrating and I feel bad for letting the team
down because I really wanted two good results but it just wasn't to
be.
In race one I wasn't feeling 100%
before I went out and it just didn't flow right and I finished 12th.
In the second race if I could have stayed close I could have been fighting for a
podium, but I made a mistake and I didn't have the pace to make up the lost
time.
I am now looking forward to my
last race of the year at the Sunflower back at home in Northern Ireland and want
to end my year on a high note to carry that forward into 2017.
I would like to thank the whole
Gearlink Kawasaki team and all my personal sponsors for the opportunity they
gave me this year."
MCE British
Superbike
In the MCE British Superbike
series, the Gearlink Kawasaki rider, Italian Vittorio Iannuzzo, made progress
throughout the practice sessions and ended up qualifying in 22nd
place for the opening race on Saturday.
In very tricky conditions, as the
rain came down Vittorio kept his head together and continued to ride a solid
race, avoiding any incidents or moments he was able to finish in 15th
position and secure a valuable Championship point.
Vittorio was placed in
21st for race two on Sunday and was forced to retire. He was
24th on the grid for the final race of the year and after several
delays he managed to finish the season in 21st position.
Vittorio
Iannuzzo -
"Despite the awful conditions on the track on Saturday I was really pleased to
secure some more Championship points. It was very difficult out on the circuit
and I did not want to do anything stupid. It was a hard race but I am very glad
that I managed to finish.
After the result on Saturday I
was hoping for some good positions on Sunday but the bad weather changed our
plans. It has been a really hard season but in the end with more experience for
all of us we showed that we made some big progress forwards and that we can now
be competitive.
Thank you to all of Gearlink
Kawasaki and also all the support I have received."
Team Manager Michael de
Bidaph - "I
think that it is plain to see that this has been an extremely poor season for
the team and unfortunately it has carried on at the last round. Both Supersport
riders were off the pace before the Sprint race and Mason decided to leave the
team.
Andrew had two strong races this
weekend and we made some changes for the race on Sunday, which allowed him to be
more competitive.
Vittorio has continued to make
progress on the Superbike this weekend and I have to say that it has been an
absolute pleasure working with him this year.
I would like to take this
opportunity to thank KMUK and all our product sponsors for their continued
support. I feel like we have let them down with such poor results but hope to
change that in 2017."
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