The AP Kawasaki team battled hard for two more race finishes at Croft today where they were again contesting the Metzeler National Superstock 600 and 1000 Championship races. Freddie Russo fought his way through from 21st on the grid to 15th place for another 600 Championship point whilst Leon Hunt took 21st in the 1000 category.
Fresh from his podium at Oulton Park two weeks ago, Russo was hoping to maintain that strong run of form but riding at the circuit for the first time in two years, it took the Brentford rider a while to get up to speed during practice and qualifying, the end result being 21st in qualifying.
In the 12 lap race which formed round three of the series, a strong start saw Freddie move up to 16th at the end of the first lap and with a series of personal best laps, he was rewarded for some determined riding with 15th place to claim a single point to hold seventh position in the Championship table.
In the Superstock 1000 class, Leon Hunt was flying the flag alone in the absence of Anthony Haywood but like Russo was competing at a circuit where he had little knowledge. After qualifying in 23rd place, it turned out to be a fairly uneventful race for the Brighton rider and he ended up crossing the line in 21st place.
Freddie Russo: "I came into the round with high hopes but it's two years since I've been here and although I like the circuit it took me a while to get dialled in and most of free practice was spent just trying to learn my way round again. My new leathers were also causing me problems during qualifying, hence being back on the sixth row so I switched to my old leathers for the race and just dug in as much as I could. I managed to go forward a fair bit from my qualifying position and although its only 15th, it's a point and I'm still in a decent position in the Championship table. I love the next circuit, Thruxton, so hopefully, we can get back into the top three there and make a serious impression on the Championship."
Leon Hunt: "It was a similar story to the first couple of rounds for me as I'm still struggling to find a set-up with the bike that I'm comfortable with. It doesn't seem to matter what we try, I just can't get the bike to handle how I'd like it to and it's making for some tough races at the moment. I haven't been to Croft that many times and I struggled with the bike through the corners so it was another frustrating weekend and we're just not making the progress I'd like. My arms were playing up too so I plan to get that sorted now. It's not through the lack of trying though so we'll get our heads down and continue to work hard at the next round to try and turn things around."
Alan Greig: "We've struggled a little bit this weekend but we take some positives out of it. Leon has very little experience of Croft and struggled with arm pump again so has decided to have an operation to cure it which is a good step forward and Freddie handicapped himself during qualifying so to salvage a point was a great effort. We have had no experience in the wet so it was all a bit of a gamble but we are building up steadily and will gain more confidence at the tracks we are strong at."
Round four takes place at Thruxton in Hampshire on May 28-30.
Metzeler National Superstock 600cc Championship (12 laps)1 Keith Farmer (Yamaha) 17m 41.051s2 Daniel Kinloch (Kawasaki) +3.058s3 Deane Brown (Yamaha) +3.504s4 Grant Whitaker (Yamaha) +4.630s5 James East (Yamaha) +6.166s6 James Rose (Yamaha) +6.260s7 Glenn Irwin (Kawasaki) +9.326s8 Jake Newstead (Yamaha) +10.057s9 Connor Behan (Kawasaki) +10.182s10 Tim Hastings (Kawasaki) +13.347s15 Freddie Russo (AP Kawasaki) +18.757s
Championship points1 Farmer 50 pts2 Burke 413 Brown 324 East 315 Behan 276 Kinloch 237 Russo 21
Metzeler National Superstock 1000cc Championship (15 laps)1 Tristan Palmer (Honda) 16m 46.535s2 Jason O'Halloran (Honda) +3.500s3 Danny Buchan (Kawasaki) +4.780s4 Jimmy Storrar (BMW) +7.403s5 Richard Cooper (BMW) +7.636s6 John Ingram (BMW) +16.745s7 Joe Burns (BMW) +17.107s8 Luke Quigley (BMW) +17.433s9 John McGuinness (Honda) +17.617s10 David Johnson (Honda) +19.195s21 Leon Hunt (AP Kawasaki) +40.005s
Championship points1 Palmer 66 points2 Buchan 613 O'Halloran 514 Cooper 345 Storrar 296 Quigley 2322 Hunt 1
