The Gearlink Kawasaki team were looking forward to round eight of the Motorpoint British Supersport Championship at Cadwell Park this weekend. It turned out to be a tough weekend for the team. Glenn Irwin gained a fifth and seventh, Ben Wilson secured a seventh and fifth and Luke Hedger was eighth and sixth.
Glenn Irwin was looking to have a good weekend at the technical circuit in Lincolnshire; he was once again struck by a bit of bad luck. The Gearlink Kawasaki team found a good set-up on his bike on Friday and were eager to get into qualifying on Saturday morning. With the temperatures raising so much on Saturday all three riders were struggling with grip issues on the hot track. Glenn ended up qualifying in fourth place for the opening sprint race. He got a fantastic start and was leading after lap one. On lap two the race was red-flagged and a restart of 10-laps was issued. Glenn got to the line after the warm-up lap and knew he had a problem. His bike would not select gears properly and despite getting off the line he dropped back to fifth and he had to nurse the Gearlink Kawasaki home in that position at the flag.
In race two he started from fifth place on the grid but had woken up on Sunday morning with flu-like symptoms. He got another good start and was up to third place but as the race went on his energy levels dropped, as did his positions and he had to settle for seventh place at the end of the 16-laps.
Ben Wilson was really eager to battle for a podium position at Cadwell Park, his local circuit. The feisty rider from Boston, Lincolnshire had a great day on Friday and seemed to make huge progress. He was fourth and third fastest respectively in the two practice sessions. He also struggled with the movement of the bike during the qualifying session and ended up in eighth place. Ben had a lonely 10-lap race in the Sprint race and gained a position from qualifying to finish in seventh despite suffering a suspension problem throughout the race.
He started from seventh for race two on Sunday and he got a good start and was up to sixth place at the end of the first lap. Ben had to take evasive action at the top of the Mountain to avoid the stricken Andy Reid who had crashed out. This forced Ben to roll off the throttle and lose his gap to the front pack; he rode a very solid race to finish in a very creditable fifth position.
Luke Hedger once again had a consistently solid weekend and was able to score two good top ten places. He was having some issues with the bike during the Friday practice session but the Gearlink Kawasaki team worked hard to fix any problems ready for qualifying on Saturday. He qualified in 10th for the race on Saturday, on the re-start he got away well and made up a place after lap one. Like Ben, he was in a lonely race on his own and brought the Gearlink Kawasaki home in eighth place.
He was placed in eighth on the grid in the second race and got a good start moving him up to seventh. Luke put in some good solid lap times which saw him move through to sixth, where he finished at the end of the 16-lap race.
Glenn Irwin - "It was a pretty tough weekend to be honest and it was a real shame as on Friday everything felt great. We were looking set to have a really strong weekend. My times were good and the Gearlink Kawasaki felt good, we were unlucky in the re-start to suffer with a gearbox problem and I'm glad I was still able to salvage some points. I don't know what happened overnight but I felt really ill on Sunday morning, I just had no energy from the moment I woke up. I pushed as hard as I could but it totally drained me. I hope to be back up and full well by Oulton Park."
Ben Wilson - "I was really happy with the bike on Friday. We found a good set-up quickly and I was really looking forward to the weekend. I was a bit gutted in the first race as I had a problem with my suspension, I was lucky to get the result I did. Things went better on Sunday and I was fairly happy with the result but really want to be fighting for a podium at Oulton Park. The Gearlink Kawasaki team worked really hard all weekend to try and get everything sorted for me."
Luke Hedger - "It was a good weekend in the end after a difficult start with bike set-up, but my crew and the Gearlink Kawasaki team pulled it all together and got the bike sorted. I started to pick up the pace in qualifying and things did progress well from there. I am happy with the times I achieved this weekend and I've also moved up a place in the Championship. Thank you again to all my sponsors and family and also to the team for giving me a mint bike."
Team Manager Michael de Bidaph - "The team managed to find a good set-up for all three riders from early on in the weekend and I really thought we might be able to snatch a couple of podiums.
They all struggled with grip issues due to the severe heat in the track on Saturday, which caused them to have a lower qualifying position than they had hoped for. We seemed to be troubled with a bit of bad luck in race one with Glenn and Ben both having a couple of problems with the bike, both still fought on to achieve some solid top ten results.
Glenn sadly woke up ill on Sunday and this really did have an impact on his performance in race two, we hope he is fully fit for Oulton. Ben was making really good progress but had to swerve to miss hitting Andy Reid after his crash, this really unsettled his pace and stopped him from catching to leading pack. Luke had another good solid weekend, his times were consistently fast and he is improving every time he goes out on the Gearlink Kawasaki.
I do hope our luck might change at some point and we can get some podium places with the riders before the end of the season."
