Best Yet For MWR Kawasaki At Donington

The MWR Kawasaki team enjoyed their best day so far in the Pirelli National Superstock 600 and 1000 Championships with both Harry Hartley and James Egan recording their best finishes of the season.Keen to get his season up and running in the Pirelli National Superstock 600 Championship, Burnley's 16-year-old Hartley qualified in an encouraging 22nd place and a good start saw him advance inside the top 20. Running on the edge of the points, a safety car period allowed the field to close right up and Hartley took full advantage to move forward further and at the end of the 12 laps he crossed the line in an excellent 14th place for two well deserved points.In the Pirelli National Superstock 1000 Championship, Egan also qualified in 22nd place and a brilliant start saw him immediately make up a few places. After three laps, the South African youngster was comfortably inside the points in 12th place and lapping quicker than he had done in qualifying. However, the increase in pace meant he was working the tyres more and as the race wore on he began to lose grip. Battling with second round race winner David Johnson and Josh Elliott he just missed out on the points but still secured a season's best finish of 17th.Harry Hartley: "It's really pleasing to not only get my first finish of the season but also my first points and I'm glad to have achieved both of those aims. I didn't have the greatest of qualifying sessions as I made a couple of mistakes which placed me lower down the order than I would have liked but I got my head down and got stuck in. The safety car period helped me get back in touch with the leading pack and I certainly feel that I'm getting there with the 600. It's good for the confidence to get some points so now I want to maintain the momentum and build on it at the next round at Knockhill."James Egan: "It was a tough start to the weekend with conditions on Friday being terrible and I had a few issues in qualifying but managed 22nd place and after a few suspension changes for the race, I felt really comfortable on the bike. I made a great start and it was great to be running inside the points and battling with some of the top guys but as soon as I lost the grip there was little I could do. I really enjoyed the race though and the good thing now is that I'm only a couple of tenths off the front pack rather than a couple of seconds like at the beginning of the season. I feel that we've really turned the corner now and I'm confident of getting into the points next time out."Mark Webster, Team Owner: "It was a good weekend overall for the team as both riders had their best results of the season so far. James has now found that dry set up we have been chasing and feels he can now push hard with confidence in the bike. We have just mapped out a testing program for the remainder of the season taking in all the remaining tracks we will be racing at, which will mean we will be able to push right from the word go on race weekends.??"I am so pleased for Harry to finally get a finish under his belt and a points scoring one at that. He has been putting a lot of pressure on himself lately as he knows he has the pace to compete at the front in this class, but with three DNFs up to now this year it was becoming more and more of a monkey on his back and I feel this result will be a real turning point for him. I'd like to also thank Mark Hodgson for his invaluable input this weekend working with Harry, and being part of the team. It was great to have him around and it was like going back 16 years to when we ran Darren Barton on a 125." ?Metzeler National Superstock 600cc Championship race (12 laps)1 Joe Collier (Triumph)2 Luke Hedger (Kawasaki)3 Tim Hastings (Kawasaki)4 Tom Fisher (Kawasaki)5 Jordan Simpkin (Yamaha)6 Michael Robertson (Yamaha)14 Harry Hartley (MWR Kawasaki)Championship Standings (after four rounds)1 Simpkin 76pts2 Collier 703 Hastings 644 Hedger 495 Lodge 486 Day 30Metzeler National Superstock 1000cc Championship race (12 laps)1 Adam Jenkinson (Kawasaki)2 Joe Burns (Kawasaki)3 Filip Backlund (Kawasaki)4 Josh Day (Kawasaki)5 Daniel Johnson (Kawasaki)6 Matteo Baiocco (Ducati)17 James Egan (MWR Kawasaki)Championship Standings (after four rounds)1 Jenkinson 78pts2 Burns 573 Backlund 494 Cox 485 Kennaugh 446 Johnson 39The next round of the Pirelli National Superstock 600 and 1000 Championships take place at Knockhill, Scotland over the weekend of 14/16 June.

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