The Idaq Motorsport Kawasaki Team enjoyed a strong start to the 2013 National Superstock 1000 Championship at Brands Hatch this weekend. The team riders consisting of Peter Ward, James East and Paul Curran all had a positive weekend with Pete gaining a stunning fourth place, James in 15th and Paul in 19th place.

Peter Ward had a brilliant weekend and despite pretty much missing a full race season last year and with very little testing time this year he stepped up to the game of riding the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R perfectly. He was consistently fast throughout all of practice and qualifying ending up seventh on the qualifying grid just 0.4 sec off pole.

The 28-year-old from Hinckley got a good start in the race and was up to sixth place and moving forward. He was soon locked in a battle at the front and was dicing for second position against experienced 1000cc riders such as Adam Jenkinson, Philip Backlund and TT star John McGuinness. The front four made a break from the rest of the pack and despite his best efforts Pete was unable to make the podium but still gained a great fourth place for the Idaq Motorsport team.

Peter Ward - "I'm really pleased with how the weekend has gone at Brands, I was pushing hard during the race and didn't want to make any mistakes as I know it's a long season. To get fourth on my first outing on a 1000 is mega. So much has gone into the team over the winter and I've also been working hard so to get a good result this early on is a nice reward. The team works really well together and I had fun all weekend so really enjoyed riding my bike when I was out on track, I'd like to thank Mark and Paul for all their hard work and I'm really excited about the rest of the season now."

James East has made the big step up from the 600 class and was learning the craft of racing the bigger machine. James had never ridden a 1000 machine before March this year and due to the recent bad weather had only managed a few hours testing. Each time James was out on track his times improved and managed to qualify in 22nd place out of a field of 58, ahead of many experienced 1000cc riders. In the race he had a good start and after the opening lap he was up to 21st. James carefully picked his way through the field and scored his first 1000cc points finishing in 15th  place.

James East - "I have to thank the guys at Bitubo for helping me so much this weekend to make some changes to my bike and in the race it was awesome. We changed a setting after warm up and I was able to fully use the power of the bike to get me out of the corners, it made a massive difference and as a result I was able to get past several people out on track and move up through the field. We've hardly had any testing so this weekend was all about getting a good set up, we're working really well as a team and helping each other with data. Dave my mechanic did an awesome job, he gave me confidence and I can't wait to get to Thruxton - it's one of my favourite circuits."

Paul Curran has been racing under the Idaq banner for three years now and he was certainly making progress this weekend at Brands Hatch. In 2012 he sustained a hand injury at the start of the season and this hindered his progress. This weekend he managed to qualify in 21st place and despite tyre problems during the race he nursed the Idaq Kawasaki home to 19th position.

Paul Curran - "I was struggling with grip during the race and it was certainly making things hard work as the bike was just moving around underneath me. The bike felt awesome in warm up and the only thing we changed between warm up and the race was the tyre, it's just really frustrating as I wanted to start the season well. Before we came to Brands I'd only done 40 laps on the bike so this weekend was very much a testing session in the dry conditions. It's really good having Pete and James as team-mates this year as we've been helping each other a lot all weekend it bonds the team together really well. I'm looking forward to getting some more laps under my belt at Thruxton this weekend."

Team Principal Mark Roebuck - "Brands Hatch was such a good start to the season for us even though we have not had much winter testing due to the weather like many of the teams. We have geared the team up from a single rider last year to three riders this year which has taken a lot of planning and this first round was always going to be a big test for us. Looking back on the event I cannot think of a single thing that did not work as planned so we are absolutely over the moon. Our intention is to keep refining how we work and make the Idaq Motorsport team the most efficient team in the paddock as well as hopefully taking our first win this year.

Before Brands we had a crew of 20 people that in many cases had previously never worked together. Everyone really got on well and it made the atmosphere within the camp very positive.

In summary, we had no mechanical problems, no crashes and from an entry list of 58 we get two riders in the points and all riders in the top 20 on our first outing for the team in its current form is fantastic, I'm really pleased with their results. I'm especially pleased with Pete and his fourth place, it's a really good feeling to be up at the sharp end and makes all the hard work worth it. PCR Performance has prepared the bikes perfectly.

I would like to thank all our sponsors that have made this possible. We're really looking forward to the rest of the season now and we can push for podiums at future rounds."