It was another solid weekend for the Idaq Motorsport team this weekend in the third round of the Pirelli National Superstock 1000 Championship at the picturesque Oulton Park circuit in Cheshire. Two of the three Idaq riders were in the points again with the youngest member of the team James East gaining his first top ten finish of the year. James finished in ninth, team-mate Peter Ward finished in 12th and Paul Curran was forced to retire from the race.

23-year-old James East had a great weekend achieving fourth in his qualifying group which put him on the second row in the combined qualifying in seventh place for the 15-lap race. James got a steady start but lost a few places in the opening lap and had to ride in a lonely ninth place for the race taking some solid Championship points as he crossed the line.

James East - "I really enjoyed this weekend and once again the Idaq Motorsport team were mega to work with all weekend. We made some set up changes over the weekend after each session and the Kawasaki felt great and I felt really comfortable going into the race with the setup we had. I got a bit of a steady start but I wasn't aggressive enough on the first lap and I just wanted to stay on, there are a lot of riders out there and I didn't want to mess things up early on in the race and I got a little swamped into the first few turns, I wasn't able to make that ground up. I've never ridden that bike on such hot track temperature conditions and the bike was doing things that I'd never felt before. It was totally different to how it had been earlier in the weekend when the conditions were cooler, there was a lot of movement from the tyres and this altered everything including my braking points; again that is just knowledge and experience and each time out I'm always learning something new on the bike. The team were great and I can't thank them enough, my aim at the start of the year was top ten's now I'd like to aim for top six, I'd like to keep moving the goalposts and see if I can reach my targets. I'd like to thank everyone involved this weekend."

Peter Ward struggled with a set up during the first qualifying session on Saturday and with some overnight changes they were able to take a second off his time but this still only put him in 17th place on the overall grid for the race. Fortunately he was able to get a great start and by lap three he was laying in 10th place, sadly arm pump issues forced him to ease off his pace which dropped him back to 12th overall.

Peter Ward - "It's been a bit of a mixed weekend really, I struggled at the start of the weekend to find a set up that suited me properly. My mechanics made some changes between Saturday and Sunday for qualifying and these made a big difference but I missed some time during the second qualifying session so I ended up further back on the grid than I'd hoped for. I knew I had a lot of work to do during the race but luckily I got a good start and was able to pass a lot of people on the opening lap. Maybe I went a little too hard and was trying too hard as just over half way through the race I started to suffer with really bad arm pump, the bike was mega in the race it was just me that was the weakest link in it all. There are a few things I'm going to change in myself before the next round at Donington then I hope I will be up there at the sharp end again."

Paul Curran had been running well throughout the weekend at Oulton Park and took off nearly a second from his time from the first to the second qualifying session putting him next to Peter on the grid in 18th place. Disaster struck in the race as from lap three he was suffering from severe arm pump and was forced to pull in the pits at the end of lap nine.

Paul Curran - "I felt ok all weekend with my arms and it's something I've never really suffered with before except at Oulton, it had flared up a little in the final stages of qualifying but nothing major. I got a really bad start and this made me want to push harder and try harder to re pass people and move through the field but the more I tried the worse my arms got to the point where they were locked solid and I was struggling to pull the clutch in. I didn't want to cause an accident or be involved in one so I had no option but to pull into the pits. I'm gutted about it as the bike felt really good again and I was eager to get myself into the points but it just wasn't to be. I want to try and move things forward at Donington in a few weeks' time."

Team Principal Mark Roebuck - "We had another good weekend with the Idaq Motorsport team, all three riders and the team as a whole made massive progress. We did some work on the bikes during the weekend and once again all three bikes ran perfectly during the race, it's a credit to PCR Performance. It was tough for Paul and Pete both suffering with arm pump during the race but this did seem to cause problems for a number of other riders too; hopefully this won't flare up again at any other circuits. Both riders went faster at Oulton than they ever had before on the 1000cc bike. I'm really pleased for James, we'd said at the start of the year that we would like him to take it easy for the first half of the season and move into the top ten in the second half to give him time to get used to the 1000cc bike but he has adapted to the machine very quickly as we can see by his results in every race not just this one. To see him in the top 10 at round three competing against the calibre of riders in this class is fantastic and just shows the potential James has."