After a brief hiatus, ILR Kawasaki returned to the Pirelli National Superstock 1000 Championship as the series paid a second visit of the season to Oulton Park at the weekend.

With Robbin Harms deciding to take no further part in the championship, the team took time out to re-group with James East filling the berth vacated by Harms on the Ninja ZX-10R.

However the weekend got off to the worst possible start. After a settling in period in free practice, East crashed out in the very early stages of first qualifying and sat out the rest of the session as the team set about getting the bike ready for Saturday's second session.

With damage limitation the key both in terms of machine and qualifying for the race, East posted the 29th fastest lap to place himself on the 11th row of the grid but very much with it all to do.

Bad weather was forecast for Sunday race day and with this in mind, the organisers brought the race forward to 6pm on Saturday evening.
As expected with his lowly grid position, James became embroiled in race long traffic and eventually finished 24th to bring a tough weekend to a conclusion.

The team now turn their attention to the forthcoming Classic TT races on the Isle of Man where team manager Ian Lougher will be in action on the immaculately prepared bikes of Steve Linsdell and Brian Scott.



James East:

'Despite it being a tough weekend in various ways, not least being the lack of time on the bike, I had a strong finish to the weekend and I am looking forward to working with ILR again. I'd like to thank all at ILR and my sponsors for their continued support.

I very much enjoyed working with, and would like to thank, Ian Lougher and the rest of ILR for all their help this weekend.'

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