The opening shots of the 2007 British Superbike and Supersport championships were fired today at the glorious 2.6-mile Brands Hatch GP circuit in Kent. ISILON MSS Discovery Kawasaki riders Michael Rutter and Stuart Easton finally got to see where they sat amongst the competition after a long winter’s testing. A few teething troubles kept 33-year-old Rutter off-track for longer than he would have liked, but some hard work from the team overnight should see the rider from Kirkby Mallory improve his grid position and get him some more valuable time in the saddle tomorrow. Easton’s crew will also be working hard this evening, going all-out to ensure that the 23-year-old Scotsman can improve on his current grid position of 8th.
Michael Rutter, Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R (16th position)“We knew that we’d be on the back-foot here, but I’m still confident we can improve and considering the challenges we have, we’re not in too bad a shape. We lost a fair amount of time in the garage and could have gone a considerable amount quicker, but you can’t do anything when you’re not on track and we’ve only just got our second bike together. We had a few issues with a quick-shifter and with fuelling, as we couldn’t run our improved fuelling-map that we sorted at the Mallory Park test, then we had a gearbox problem and we had to sit out a fair chunk of the session. Tomorrow is looking more positive as we’ll have two bikes and with a bit of luck we can sneak into the top 10. If we can do that, then I’ll be very happy.”
Stuart Easton, Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R (8th position)“Our position isn’t too bad. I think my ideal time was about half-a-second quicker than my actual time and that would have made a big difference to where we ended up. I don’t feel I rode that great as I was in-and-out of the garage a lot, but I guess that’s normal for the first day of practice. What is positive is that we’re going in the right direction and with some setting changes, refining the throttle response and that little bit extra from me we should get that front-row slot.”
Nick Morgan, Team owner“Stuart’s set-up overall seems quite good, so with a bit of tinkering we should be happy with our result tomorrow. His Ninja ZX-6R has a slightly aggressive power-delivery on the throttle so the boys will be heading back to base and doing some dyno work in a bid to get that sorted. He’s going in the right direction so with some tweaks we’re looking for a front-row start. With Michael and the Ninja ZX-10R things started to come together today as we finally had everything we needed for his second bike. With the gearbox problem, Michael missed a fair amount of track time, but the boys are working hard sorting the number-one engine out and getting the second bike ready for action tomorrow. Things are in better shape than 16th suggests and I’m hopeful that things will improve. We want to be knocking on the door of a top ten and we think that’s feasible for tomorrow.”
Stuart Simmonds, Joint team owner“We knew we’d be up against it with our late-entry into the Superbike class, but it’s a testament to the team and Michael that we’re in the shape we’re in. Teething troubles are going to affect us more during a race weekend until we catch-up with the competition, but we’re confident of better things tomorrow. Things are looking very positive for Stuart and with some work overnight and in the morning session, we’re confident of a front-row slot for Sunday’s race.”
MAXXIS British Supersport Championship Saturday practice times:1:Tom Grant
2: Dennis Hobbs
3: Billy McConnell
4: Michael Laverty
5: Jamie Robinson
8: Stuart Easton, ISILON MSS Discovery Kawasaki
Bennetts British Superbike Championship Saturday practice times:1. Johnny Rea
2. Shane Byrne
3. Gregorio Lavilla
4. Leon Camier
5. Chris Walker
16: Michael Rutter, ISILON MSS Discovery Kawasaki
Related Linkswww.mssdiscoveryracing.com
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