Defending champion Ryuichi Kiyonari had a weekend to forget at Croft last weekend, scoring just a single point from the two races and the Japanese ace knows he needs to turn around the disaster of that round and return to his winning best at Thruxton this Bank Holiday weekend (28-30 May).

Kiyonari scored a second place at Brands Hatch despite a high-speed crash in warm up and then went on to score his first win of the season at Oulton Park, but at Croft he struggled all weekend with set up and was only able to score a single point. However the reigning champion knows that if he wants to close the gap on his championship-leading team-mate and remain inside the all-important top six he needs to return to the podium to add to his tally of podium credits.


Kiyonari said:

"It was a difficult weekend for me at Croft and we worked hard and tried many different changes but were still running the same lap times. In the first race it was a decision on tyres and we thought it would rain more, so we went for wets but that was the wrong choice and I just couldn't push. In the second race I had to start so far down the grid because of race one and then it was hard work but we still made passes and moved forward. It was disappointing for me and the team now I look forward to Thruxton.

"Last year Thruxton was a good race for the team with a win, although I just missed out on the podium. I am going there to try and do again what I did at Oulton Park; I want to win and be back on the podium. I hope that we can work hard in free practice and qualifying to make changes to solve the problems we had at Croft so that we can be fast and pushing for wins. I have said before, but I am not happy unless I am winning."