Two Stunning Supersport Seconds for Wilson

Gearlink Kawasaki Oulton Park Round 3 Review

Motorpoint British Supersport

Ben Wilson had his best weekend of the year so far for the Gearlink Kawasaki team riding the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R scoring two solid second places at Oulton Park. He now leaves Oulton in second place in the Championship only 9.5 points behind the leader Jack Kennedy. David Jones improved throughout the weekend and he gained a 27th in race one and 22nd in race two.

Ben qualified in fifth place on the second row and was into fourth after the opening lap. Once again the Supersport races are providing some of the best racing across all the Championships. Ben managed to get past Richards and Cooper and was soon trying to bridge the gap between himself and race leader Kennedy. Setting some of the fastest laps of the race and breaking the lap record in the process Ben just did not have enough laps and despite taking 0.2 out every lap he came a close second with only just over half a second separating them as they crossed the line.

With the fastest lap in the opening race Ben sat on pole position for race two and he was eager to get another good result for the Gearlink team. A fantastic hole-shot saw him take the lead into the first corner but he was soon being hounded by Jack Kennedy again and the pair swapped places for a couple of laps. There were soon seven bikes in the mix for the win with, Ben, Jack and Glen Richards dicing for the lead with each other and all having a brief spell at the front. The race was cut short at the start of lap 11 after a rider crashed at the first corner and forced the race to be red flagged, six laps short of the full race distance, the result was taken back a lap and Ben gained another superb second place.

David Jones was locked in his own battles down the field and managed to take half a second off his best lap time in race one to his best lap time in race two and is showing improvement and confidence at each round.

Ben Wilson - "I'm really pleased with this weekend I am still chasing that win and hope it will come soon, there has been a lot of pressure on me, mainly from myself to go out and do well this year and I just need to try and take each race at a time and get myself some good results. It's a long season and despite what has been said it's a very competitive field with a lot of good and strong competition and I know this year will be tough. I rode well and Oulton is one of my favourite tracks and we found a good set up on the Kawasaki here. I can see the full Championship being very close all season and a good handful of them are capable of winning races so I have to keep fighting my corner and doing a good job for the Gearlink team."

David Jones - "Every weekend is getting a little better for me I had a few crashes towards the end of last year and also in testing and it did knock my confidence a bit so I have been working hard to try and forget about those and start to enjoy my riding again and get myself back in the points. I know it's a long season but hopefully I can get things sorted sooner rather than later for the Gearlink team."

Metzeler Superstock 600s

Scott Hudson made another appearance at a track he has never ridden before and was able to make big improvements every time he went out on track. He took a second off his time between the two qualifying sessions and put himself to 21st place on the grid from a massive 45 riders out on track. However it was not meant to be as the 24-year-old hit a damp patch on the warm up lap at Druids and he tucked the front and crashed out before he managed to start in the race.

Scott Hudson - "This is a really technical track and hard track to learn to come here for the first time, it's a great track but difficult to understand and know where the correct line is. I was really pleased with the progress I made and totally mad at myself for making such a stupid mistake on the warm up lap, I'm sorry and gutted for the Gearlink team. I go to Donington next week which is another track I've never been to so I know this is a learning year for me and hope at some point I can get myself into the points at one of the races."

Team Manager Michael de Bidaph - "It has been a good weekend for us at Oulton we did struggle at the start of the weekend with Ben to find a good set up on the Gearlink Kawasaki but once we found something that worked we stuck with it for the races. Both races were mixed but very close racing and we knew right from the start that we had to try and be consistent and hopefully the wins would start coming later in the season but we have to get some good points and stay within sight of winning the Supersport Championship. We are now second and the standings are very close we know it's important to keep gaining podiums and good results to keep us in contention. It's a very tight and close season and it will be through the whole year but it is a long season and we still have 18 races left to go so we are not in a hurry to try and win it too soon.

We are moving forwards with David but we are trying to rebuild his confidence from a few crashes at the start of the year, his times over the weekend improved and we hope soon his confidence will come back and we can get him back in the points. The crash Scott had on the warm up lap was purely down to inexperience and I'm sure most riders have done something similar in their riding careers. His results and times have started to improve but we know he still has a lot of tracks to learn and a lot of knowledge to gain, we hope he'll be able to get into the points before the season is out as he's a talented rider."

2012 GEARLINK TEAM SPONSORS

AKRAPOVIC - B & C EXPRESS - CLWYD HEATING (DAVID) - DAYTONA (BEN) - DBR - GALFER - GB RACING - GEARLINK LTD - GIMOTO - GOODS LIFT COMPANY, ANDOVER - GOODRIDGE - JON JESSOP PHOTOGRAPHY - K-TECH - METZELER (STOCK 600'S) - MOTOCOMP - MWR AIR FILTERS - NGK - OCTANORM - PAZZO - PERFORMANCE PARTS - PERFORMANCE FRICTION BRAKES - PRO CLEAN - PRO-BOLT - R & G RACING - RACE BY DESIGN - RENTHAL - ROCK OIL - SAMCO SPORT - SHARK HELMETS - SIGMA PERFORMANCE - SINNIS - SKIDMARX - SOLO SIGNS - SPEEDYCOM - SUDBROOKE BOILERS (BEN) - TIM TODD SURFACING (SCOTT) - TSUBAKI - TWO WHEEL MEDIA - VALE LIVESTOCK - WELTECH (BEN)


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