Both Gearlink Kawasaki riders completed the Fuchs-Silkolene British Supersport round at Donington Park on Bank Holiday Monday with Chris Martin securing a strong fifth place and Steven Neate 22nd at the end of the 18-lap affair.
Qualifying had not gone strictly to plan with the team encountering problems throughout the weekend but both riders shrugged off the setback and rode through to complete the race.
This week the Supersport series played host to three World Supersport riders who were using the track time to find a set up for the World Supersport round that takes place at Donington later in the year and of course the two Ten Kate Honda boys were making all the running which reflected in the race positions for the majority of the regular competitors.
Martin who was still suffering pain from the injuries sustained at Brands Hatch in the previous round started his campaign from a second row grid position in sixth place.
After winning a race-long battle with Craig Fitzpatrick and James Webb, Chris Martin actually crossed the finish line in seventh pace but the two Ten Kate Honda riders were then excluded from the results which elevated Martin to fifth position.
Meanwhile Steven Neate had been having all sorts of niggling problems with his machine and eventually opted to go out in the race on his spare bike.
Starting from 22nd place on the grid it was always going to be a difficult task for Steven to make it through to a points-scoring finish but after dropping down as far as 28th at one stage he mounted a determined comeback to complete the race in 24th place, later amended to 22nd.
Michael De Bidaph – Team Owner/Manager Chris finished the race in a strong position and is back in the points. He is still not fully fit and also had a problem with the brakes during the race; otherwise I feel that he could possibly have taken another place. Overall I am happy with Chris’s result.
Steven has been struggling all weekend and we just don’t know why. We know what Steven is capable of and where he should be and we have to spend time with him to find out what went wrong this weekend. We are all disappointed but I am not apportioning any blame, as we don’t know what went wrong. So we go away from here and work on it and come back stronger at Snetterton.
Chris Martin I feel very sore; I am still a bit battered and bruised from Brands. I got a half decent start in the race, it was very windy out there and I got blown about a bit. But I lost my brakes five laps into it and ended up having to compensate. But I managed to get my head back down and ended up in fifth place so I was happy enough and I can now get ready for Snetterton.
Steven Neate It’s been a really tough weekend for us. Since we got here we seem to have encountered a few problems and I have been forced onto my second bike for most of the weekend. In the race it just didn’t quite come together and we have yet to discover what has caused the problem so we have to sit down and have a hard think about it and prepare for the next race.
Championship Points After Four Rounds: 1 Glen Richards 85
2 Steve Brogan 65
3 Hudson Kennaugh 58
4 Ian Lowry 52
5 Chris Martin 4013 Steven Neate 15 Image Credit: Turn One Photography
