|
| News and products for the motorcycle enthusiast and professional |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
MIXED DAY AT DONINGTON FOR HAWK KAWASAKI The hard riding Australian narrowly missed out on a front row start during Saturday’s final qualifying session, leaving him fifth on the grid and starting from the second row. Richards’ aggressive style and strong pace allowed him to break away with the leading Honda and Ducati riders, chasing hard around Donington’s twisting 2.5 mile layout. Having recovered well from two crashes in Friday’s practice sessions Glen was able to cross the finish line a clear fourth. However, his good fortune wouldn’t hold for race two… Another strong start from the Aussie pushed him into the lead pack on a damp, patchy circuit. A hard downpour of rain during the interval between the day’s two British Superbike rounds saw the Derbyshire circuit offering treacherous riding conditions. A dry line, cleared by the previous Supersport race, was bordered by damp edges to the circuit. With all the riders on slick tyres the wet sections of the track soon claimed the first of nine fallers. Richards, pushing hard moved from fourth to third, and began an attack on Ducati-mounted Leon Haslam in second, closing fast before falling foul of the circuit conditions at the fast Old Hairpin section. Yellow flags, waved as marshals cleared the fallen Michael Pensavalle, caused Glen to back off and move line slightly, onto the wet inside edge of the track. In an instant the Hawk Kawasaki rider was off, sliding uninjured as his Hawk Kawasaki ZX-10R rolled into the gravel trap. The DNF result a poor reward for the pace and style shown throughout the race. Dean Thomas, riding the number 12 Hawk Kawasaki, suffered his poor luck in the first of the day’s races. Starting from eighth place on the grid, Deano struggled with set-up and had to battle hard to stay in touch with the lead pack. A fierce battle with Smart developed, and as the two Kawasaki riders concentrated on each other, Yamaha rival Tommy Hill took the chance to sneak past, relegating Dean to ninth position at the chequered flag. Bitterly disappointed with his result Thomas used the time in between races to move his bike settings closer to those of team-mate Richards. The second race started well and Thomas found himself able to closer match the pace of the lead group. Deano’s race progressed well, gradually moving up on the lead group, before being slowly overhauled by Suzuki’s James Haydon. Relegated to 6th, Thomas moved up into 6th as his team-mate dropped out of the race. Never giving up and making every effort to retake his position from Haydon, Deano ran out of laps and claimed sixth place, taking valuable points and closing in on 6th position in the championship. Deano had a mixed reaction to the day at Donington. ”For sure I’m not particularly happy with race 1. I thought I’d go better here, you know, and in race 1 I just couldn’t get it together. I thought at the start of the race if I could just get away good and match Glen’s pace, then it would be good. After the first couple of laps it was pretty apparent that it just wasn’t going to happen, so I put my head down and did what I could. I had a massive scrap with Smarty, really going at it hammer and tongs. However, this didn’t pay off as whilst we were busy fighting it out Tommy nipped past, so I finished ninth, which just isn’t good enough. I talked to the guys when I came in, and we moved the bike closer to the GR’s setting, which seems to have worked a bit better. At least in the second one I could push. So, I need to finish ahead of Harris at Brands and hopefully we can have shot at sixth in the championship”. Glen Richards was pleased with his pace in race two, and took a philosophical view of the day. “You know, I think I could have made it in that second one. I was catching Leon real fast, and my bike was sooo good on the brakes. It sounds silly, but that yellow flag was just enough for me to be on a slightly different line and bang, down she went. There was absolutely nothing I could do about it. And it’s not what we deserved really. The boys worked real hard building up the bike after the crash on Friday, and we looked good for a podium. Race 1 was OK, but I like Donington, and I just wanted to get on those steps today. The bike is good now, and for sure we’ll be pushing at Brands to finish the season on a high.” Hawk Kawasaki team owner Stuart Hicken also took the philosophical viewpoint. ”What can I say? Up to the point where he went out Glen looked real strong, strong enough to do the business. Everything was working real well, he went a few inches off line and that was that. Deano did better in the second race, and has pushed hard, so I can’t fault him for that. It’s been a tough weekend, and an expensive one, which isn’t what you need at the end of the year, but that’s racing. The boys will be working hard this week to get us ready to race at Darley Moor’s Stars of Darley meeting next weekend, and then we’ll get ready for the last BSB meet at Brands”. Hawk Racing’s other rider, 11 year old Shaun Winfield was also in action today, and gave the team something to celebrate at the end of the day. Racing in Cumbria, the Ashby-based teamster lifted the British Minimoto Championship title in fine style, beating his nearest rival by over 100 points and claiming the title at the penultimate meeting of the year. Hawk’s protégé also moved to third in the Metrakit championship in his first season on a geared bike. Everyone at Hawk Kawasaki would like to congratulate Shaun, Rob and Tracey on his first of hopefully many championship victories. Race One Result: Race Two Result: Championship Points after 12 of 13 rounds: Manufacturers Points after 12 of 13 rounds: Honda 529
|
|
| Biker247.com is an Internet publication brought to you by The 247 Network - Visit our other sites at www.the247network.com. |
| The entire content included in this website, including but not limited to text, design, graphics, interfaces, or code and the selection and arrangements thereof is copyrighted as a collective work under the UK and other copyright laws and is the property of The 247 Network. |