It was a challenging weekend for the Idaq Motorsport team this weekend at round five of the Pirelli National Superstock Championship at Knockhill. They had a solid weekend despite only one dry qualifying session on Friday; In the race Peter Ward came up through the pack and finished a solid seventh, James East 17th and Paul Curran 21st.
Once again for the fifth round this season the weather took a turn for the worst on the Saturday and therefore the Idaq Motorsport riders had to have a good first qualifying session on Friday, all was going well until James East had a small crash which put an end to his session prematurely.
The sessions on Friday were dry but with only a short allocated track time it is difficult to find a good bike set up and then put in a quick qualifying time. Knowing the rain was forecast for Saturday they eventually qualified in the following positions for the race, Pete 10th, James 14th and Paul in 22nd.
The sun shone on race day and the Idaq Motorsport riders were keen to have a good race. Pete got a good start and worked his way slowly through the pack, sadly once again his arm pump issue flared up in the final ten laps but he still managed to secure a comfortable seventh place.
Peter Ward - "I'm pretty pleased with the result today I made sure I was quite aggressive on the first lap so I didn't get mixed up in any mid pack antics. I made up some places from the start and wanted to try and get up with the front runners. I went back to my surgeon after Donington about my arms and he said the problem lies much deeper in the arm and I need another operation but it takes longer to heal and we don't have a break in our calendar for me to sort this so I have to keep pushing on. We made a lot of progress with the bike this weekend and each time it's getting easier to ride, I've been pretty ill this week with flu so to get up to seventh I'm happy with and it's more Championship points."
After a crash on Friday James East had to go out in the terrible weather on Saturday just to ensure everything was working ok on his bike. He got a good start in the race but had an issue with the gearbox at the end of lap three so he had to nurse the bike home into 17th position.
James East - "The one thing I took out of this weekend as a massive positive is how to get the bike off the line, I finally sussed how to start it and helped me get a really good start and kept me with the top 15. As I went into the Hairpin on lap three the gearbox locked up and after that I was struggling to get it into gear, I saved a couple of crashes but kept pushing on as thought there might be a chance for me to finish in the points. I've got a really good feel for the bike now and I'm excited about getting back to tracks that I actually know well and have done a bit of testing at on a 1000. I'm hoping to get things back on track at Snetterton and be back up there in the points again. Thanks must go to all my sponsors and the entire Idaq Motorsport team."
Paul Curran struggled during qualifying and with the overnight changes on Saturday night he had a few problems in the race and struggled with rear grip. An issue several riders were struggling with on Sunday after the heavy rain that fell on Saturday making the Scottish circuit extremely greasy.
Paul Curran - "It was a tough race for me today at Knockhill, I got a really bad start in the race and lost several places after the first lap. I was then struggling with the rear grip and I just couldn't get the drive out of the corners that I wanted to move forward. I made progress through the race and the bike except the grip felt really good to ride. Hopefully at Snetterton we can have three dry days on the Idaq Motorsport bike and allow us all to get a good set up during the practise and qualifying sessions."
Team Principal Mark Roebuck - "Despite a crash for James in Q1 the Knockhill weekend was a good one for the Idaq team. As a fairly new team we are constantly learning and improving how we work together, this weekend was a great example of that. The results we achieved are fantastic considering we had very little track time before the race and had no data. Pete's result moves him up to 7th in the championship which is great."
