Despite being a rider down at the Irish round of the Bennetts British Superbike championship at Mondello Park today, ISILON MSS Discovery Kawasaki’s Stuart Easton shouldered the hopes of the team and scored two solid results. Regular Superbike rider Michael Rutter was sidelined from the event with a broken left scaphoid in his wrist, picked up at the previous round, so 23-year-old Easton rode in both the Superbike and Supersport classes. Despite having no dry set-up time over the weekend the Scotsman acquitted himself well in the first Superbike outing, taking 15th and the final championship point. The team pulled out of the second race to allow Stuart to concentrate on the two-leg, incident-hit Supersport race where he finished fifth overall. Easton will now be full of confidence for his home round at Knockhill at the end of the month where it’s hoped he will be rejoined by team-mate Rutter. Easton has now moved up to sixth in the overall MAXXIS British Supersport standings.
Michael Rutter, Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R (DNS):“It’s basically been a hard weekend for the team having just one rider and it’s difficult when you go from Supersport to Superbike and vice versa but Stuart handled it really well. It couldn’t have been any worse for him with no dry time in practice and a dry race! We wanted a top 15 for the first race, so that was perfect. He would have been higher in the second race, but it was a wise decision not to ride. It was a pleasure to help Stuart, I think we all learnt a lot and the team worked well. With my wrist injury I’m having an MRI scan tomorrow then go to the specialist on Tuesday to see if it needs pinning. Fingers crossed I will be back for Knockhill.”
Stuart Easton, Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R (15th Superbike, 5th Supersport):“As far as racing was concerned I got some good experience in a tough Superbike race but got a point so I’m happy. It was wet all weekend and then dry for the race so I had no real experience of the bike in those conditions. I was in the group battling for 12th to 15th and riding with experienced Superbike riders like Scott Smart and Dean Thomas, so that was a good feeling. In the Supersport race I felt I was riding well and had the pace but was struggling to make moves on people, but I feel I’m pushing the bike harder now. I have to say thanks to the team and Michael – who’s been like my Superbike crew-chief this weekend! He helped me massively. I’m so confident for Knockhill now, it’s going to be great.”
Nick Morgan, Team Owner:“I’m pretty pleased with Stuart’s all round performance today. The 600 still needs a little bit of development so fifth was a result. It was the right thing to do to pull him out of the second race with the restart of the Supersport race taking place right afterwards. It was brilliant to see the old Ratboy back! Michael’s help over the weekend has been invaluable. He’s been with many top-level Superbike teams, so it was quite refreshing to have someone like him
around the pitbox, looking at how we work and suggesting a few things, perhaps this is a role he could fill when he quits riding?”
Stuart Simmonds, Joint Team Owner:“Stuart really shone this weekend. He had pressure on him all weekend by riding the Superbike and the Supersport machine and yet he got both jobs done and pulled in the points. Michael’s help was invaluable and again it shows the unrivalled team-spirit we have.”
Race 1 Results:1. Leon Haslam
2. Shane Byrne
3. Gregorio Lavilla
4. Jonathan Rea
5. Ryuichi Kiyonari
15: Stuart Easton, ISILON MSS Discovery Kawasaki
Best lap: 1m 42.138s
Race 2 Results:1. Jonathan Rea
2. Shane Byrne
3. Gregorio Lavilla
4. Leon Haslam
5. Ryuichi Kiyonari
Stuart Easton DNS
MAXXIS British Supersport Championship Race:1. Dennis Hobbs
2. Jamie Robinson
3. Ian Lowry
4. John McGuinness
5. Stuart Easton, ISILON
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