Despite some promising qualifying times, Team Gearlink Kawasaki was somewhat disappointed the anticipated top results never materialised. The team had to be content with a ninth place finish for Chris Martin and 16th for Steven Neate in round nine of the Fuchs/Silkolene British Supersport championship at Cadwell Park in Lincolnshire on Bank Holiday Monday.
Free practice and qualifying had seen both Gearlink Kawasaki riders post some quick times and at one stage both riders were circulating within the top three but a dry final qualifying saw the pace quicken and Chris ended the session in seventh place with Steven 13th.
With the grids made up of only three riders instead of the usual four to a row at Cadwell, Chris was placed on row three and Steven on row five. As the race got underway Chris got a fine start and moved forward to take up second place. But the race was red flagged on the first lap because of a serious accident with a lengthy delay before the race was rescheduled to run over 14 laps instead of the planned 16.
This time Chris held his position for the first lap but was soon overhauled by James Westmoreland. By lap nine he was down to eighth and then to 10th but managed to power past Steve Brogan mid race to claim ninth position and seven championship points at the end of the 14 laps.
Meanwhile Steven Neate maintained his grid position until the final lap when he made a mistake and fell back behind Jack Kennedy to complete his race in 16th place.
Michael de Bidaph – Team owner/manager "Overall the weekend went reasonably well, practice was good and qualifying wasn’t too bad but the final qualifying wasn’t so good for us. But on saying that I must admit to being very disappointed with where both riders ended up in the race. I feel that at this stage of the game we should be doing better but at Cadwell Park we went backwards."
Chris Martin "My first start was good but by the time we got going again the other riders had sussed out my start plan and it just didn’t happen. I got blocked in at the start then baulked at the first corner and just kept getting held up all the way around."
Steven Neate "I am disappointed as I thought I was in with a chance of a good top 10 at Cadwell. I was losing too much time in the last sector and. I had run in 15th all the way until the last lap and then made a mistake, which cost me a points scoring finish."
The next round is at Croft Circuit in North Yorkshire on September 14th.
