Podium for Gearlink Kawasaki at Assen

Motorpoint British Supersport

Gearlink Kawasaki once again managed a podium finish at round ten of the Motorpoint British Supersport Championship at Assen Circuit with Glenn Irwin. Glenn finished a strong fifth on Saturday and bettered it on Sunday with a great third place. Ben Wilson had another consistent weekend with a seventh and sixth places and Luke Hedger crashed out of race one and was ninth in race two.

Glenn Irwin was eager to get back onto the podium after being off it since Knockhill in July and the Northern Irishman worked hard all weekend to secure two great results. Despite the poor weather over the weekend Glenn put in consistent times and this put him in sixth place on the grid for the opening race on Saturday.

Glenn had a steady start and was seventh after lap one and as the race progressed he was soon locked in a battle with James Rispoli, Jake Dixon, Sam Hornsey and Kyle Ryde for second place. Every lap they were all swapping positions and Glenn made a fantastic move on the last lap and got through to second place but a mistake saw him drop back to fifth as the flag came out.

For race two Glenn was placed in fourth place on the grid and was keen to make amends for his mistake in race one. He got a brilliant start and was lying in second after the first lap behind Jake Dixon. the safety car was deployed on lap two after an accident and it returned to the pit lane at the end of lap five. Glenn was passed by eventual race winner Luke Stapleford, dropping him back to third place which he fought for until the end of the 13-laps.

Ben Wilson continued to make further progress with the Gearlink Kawasaki at Assen and qualified in ninth place for the Sprint race. He got a good start and made some places in the opening laps but he was setting some good lap times to finish in a good top ten place of seventh. For race two Ben started from seventh and got a brilliant start and moved through to fourth place after lap one. He was looking really strong and staying with the leaders. Sam Hornsey made a move on Ben on lap seven and Kyle Ryde got past him on lap nine dropping Ben to sixth but he still finished in a very strong position.

Luke Hedger once again was having a consistently strong weekend setting times placing him within the top ten in each session. He managed to qualify the Gearlink Kawasaki in seventh place for the Sprint race. He dropped a place after lap one and was unfortunate to crash out on lap three. He was placed in eighth for race two on the grid and a poor start saw him drop back through the field and he worked hard to bring the bike home in ninth place.

Glenn Irwin - "I'm so pleased to be back on the podium again as it feels like it has been a long time coming and a long wait. It really should have been two podiums but it was me that made a mistake in the first race and it was a rookie error but maybe I was trying too hard as I wanted the podium so much. I'm glad I was able to make amends in race two and get back on the box. It is so hard to compete against the Triumphs, they are in another league. We will continue to keep fighting until the end of the season for some good results and to finish the year on a high.

I would like to thank all my sponsors and of course the Gearlink Kawasaki team who always give me everything they possibly can. We have all worked really hard to get back here and it is a big team effort."

Ben Wilson - "I feel like we have made some progress this weekend with the Gearlink Kawasaki and I am beginning to feel more comfortable riding it. It has been a tough year and I've not had the results I have wanted but it was good to be battling up near the front again. I hope we can continue this progress and I really am aiming for a podium at Silverstone or Brands."

Luke Hedger - "It was a bit of a tough weekend for us and the weather caught everyone out so track time was limited. I was feeling happy with the way things were going but then I crashed out of the first race and we now think this did some damage that we didn't know about. Sadly we only found out in race two and so I had to try and nurse the bike home so I'm pleased with a top ten result. Thanks again to all the Gearlink Kawasaki team, my sponsors and family."

MCE British Superbike

It was another learning weekend for Gearlink Kawasaki and their MCE British Superbike rider Jed Metcher. He continued to improve and make progress; sadly he was forced to retire from the first race with a technical problem. In race two, the conditions were mixed and after several delays the race was declared wet. The Gearlink Kawasaki team took a gamble with full intermediate tyres, a gamble which in the opening stages of the race was perfect. Jed worked his way through to a fantastic tenth place by lap six but with the ever drying track sadly Jed's tyres went off and he dropped back to finish in 18th place.Jed Metcher - "Heading into my home away from home at Assen I expected to be able to move forward with the development of the Gearlink Kawasaki by using my experience at the Dutch circuit. Unfortunately the weather had other plans reducing our track time, which in turn left us with minimal data to move forward with. However, the team did an amazing job to improve the bike with little information. It would have been amazing to get a top ten in race two but again we needed a little luck from Mother Nature that didn't arrive! All-in-all I'm looking forward to Silverstone as I've had world championship experience there and I believe we are close to suiting the Gearlink Kawasaki to my riding style."Team Manager Michael de Bidaph - "We have to take the positives from this weekend and a podium with Glenn is brilliant. It was unfortunate it was not two he admitted it was his mistake and we were just unlucky. In the Supersport races we got a good selection of top ten results with all the riders. Luke had a crash which did cause a problem in the second race today but he still managed a ninth place finish. We have made some progress this weekend and hope it will continue for us until the end of the season.

We are happy with what Jed has been doing on the bike and he continues to improve each time he goes out on the bike. We took a gamble with the tyres in the second race but if it had rained a little more it would have played into our hands perfectly. He was riding well and we will look to keep moving forward at the final two rounds of the Championship."


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