The Tyco Suzuki team is looking ahead to next week’s International North West 200 after a tough weekend at Oulton Park during round two of the British Superbike Championship.

American John Hopkins took ninth place in Monday’s second race at the Cheshire venue after retiring from the opening encounter in the closing stages due to a problem sensor, which caused an intermittent misfire on his Tyco Suzuki GSX-R1000 Superbike.

His team-mate Josh Waters took a brace of 13th-place finishes for his Oulton Park efforts and despite his obvious disappointment, the Australian did significantly improve his lap times from his visit in 2013.


John Hopkins:

“Unfortunately I can’t say it’s been a great weekend. I came in here with a lot higher expectations, as it is a track that I’ve always enjoyed. I do have good memories from Oulton Park, but throughout the course of the weekend it never quite came together for us and I was never able to get into a rhythm.

“We had a few small mechanicals but I never really settled myself. This is a track that requires you to connect the dots and if you mess up one corner, you mess up the whole lap time. When we got behind a bit I was getting frustrated with myself and I was trying to attack the track and this is not a place to attack as you make too many mistakes. This can be one of the most physically-demanding tracks or it can be one of the most enjoyable. Unfortunately this weekend it was physically demanding.”

Josh Waters:

“Again it’s been a difficult weekend for me but we did make progress and the boys have done a great job helping me in all areas. The times were a bit closer and I’ve dipped under my times from last year, but there’s a lot more to come. I know I have the speed to improve significantly; I just need to work on a few areas and build confidence. Oulton can be a tricky little track when you are struggling, but I know the Tyco Suzuki GSX-R package is good enough for the job, so hopefully we can move forward in a few weeks at Snetterton.”

Philip Neill – Team Manager:

“Obviously in BSB terms this has been a disappointing weekend for us and not even close to what we expected for our efforts. Everyone is trying very hard as usual and our goal is to get our season back on track at Snetterton. We certainly know where we need to improve. We have an important few weeks now with the road racing side of the job for Tyco Suzuki and hopefully we can give our sponsors something to cheer about at the North West 200 and Isle of Man TT.”


BSB Race 1 [18 laps]:

1 Shane Byrne [Kawasaki]; 2 Josh Brookes [Yamaha] +0.105sec; 3 James Ellison [Kawasaki] +6.183. 13 Josh Waters [Tyco Suzuki] +33.985sec. John Hopkins [Tyco Suzuki] retired lap 15.

BSB Race 2 [18 laps]:

1 Josh Brookes [Yamaha]; 2 Shane Byrne [Kawasaki] +0.118sec; 3 James Ellison [Kawasaki] +4.892sec; 4 Stuart Easton [Kawasaki] +11.841sec; 5 Tommy Bridewell +14.145sec; 6 James Westmoreland [BMW] +20.894sec. 9 John Hopkins [Tyco Suzuki] +29.872. 13 Josh Waters [Tyco Suzuki] +31.729.

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