The MWR Kawasaki team enjoyed another successful weekend of racing in the Brands Hatch sun with both Harry Hartley and James Egan posting strong finishes in the Pirelli National Superstock 600 and 1000 Championships.
Hartley qualified well in 19th place for the Pirelli Superstock 600 race, consistently improving in each practice session, and in today's race he made a brilliant start which allowed the Burnley youngster to leap up the order into tenth at the end of the opening lap on the Kawasaki ZX-6R. Part of an eight rider dice for seventh place, the 16-year-old from Burnley found himself battling with early season podium finishers Tim Hastings and Joe Collier, only to be pushed to the back of the group in the closing stages and had to settle for 13th place at the flag but it meant he's now scored points in three successive races.
For South African Egan, qualifying was again a hectic affair and 30th on the grid for the Pirelli Superstock 1000 race wasn't where he expected to be after the recent strides forward both he and the team had made. However, a solid start to the race on the Kawasaki ZX-10R saw him gain a few places and this set the trend for the whole of the race. Continually moving forward, James took a good 19th place at the chequered flag for another top 20 finish.
Harry Hartley: "I made a brilliant start to move up inside the top ten and after that I just tried to stay as consistent as I possibly could. I sat behind the group in front of me to learn as much as I could as quite a few riders in the group in front of me have been in the class for a couple of years. I lost a bit of ground towards the end of the race as I made a couple of mistakes and ran a bit wide but we're getting there and are definitely making good progress. That's three races in a row now in the points so a big thanks to the team, the hard work's starting to pay dividends."
James Egan: "It's been a productive weekend and the bike's working really well now so I just need to focus on my riding. I had a good race today and moved forward all the time, enjoying a great dice with all the riders around me. My riding has fallen away a little bit as I've been working so much on the set-up but now that's sorted, I can just concentrate on some good, old fashioned racing."
Mark Webster, Team Owner: "Overall, I'm really happy with the weekend and both riders put in strong performances in the races. Harry matched his best position of the year, also notching up his third successive points finish so he's now found some good consistency. He gets a bit frustrated that he's not running at the front but some of the riders have been in the class for three or four years so it's not easy but he's definitely going in the right direction.
"Likewise James, it was nice to see him finish today's race with a big smile on his face. He had an off-day in second qualifying but he proved what a good racer he is and a top 20 finish in what's an incredibly tough class is no mean feat. Half a second difference in the qualifying times can cover 15 places and there are a lot of experienced riders on the grid. The bike's where we want it to be and we know James will be knocking on the door for points very, very soon."
Pirelli National Superstock 600cc Championship (12 laps)1 Luke Hedger (Kawasaki)2 Callan Cooper (Yamaha)3 James Lodge (Kawasaki)4 Jordan Simpkin (Yamaha)5 Michael Robertson (Yamaha)6 Mark Wilkinson (Kawasaki)13 Harry Hartley (MWR Kawasaki)
Championship standings (after seven rounds)1 Simpkin 130pts2 Hedger 1143 Lodge 804 Collier 745 Hastings 726 Robertson 6520 Hartley 8
Pirelli National Superstock 1000cc Championship (15 laps)1 Hudson Kennaugh (Kawasaki)2 Tommy Aquino (Kawasaki)3 Tristan Palmer (Ducati)4 Joe Burns (Kawasaki)5 Jimmy Storrar (BMW)6 Victor Cox (Kawasaki)19 James Egan (MWR Kawasaki)
Championship standings (after seven rounds)1 Jenkinson 111 pts2 Kennaugh 1103 Burns 994 Backlund 735 Cox 616 Palmer 54
The next round of the Pirelli National Superstock 600 and 1000 Championships take place at Oulton Park over the weekend of 9/11 August
