After claiming pole position yesterday, technical faults plagued the JG Speedfit Kawasaki teams opening race, however the GBmoto Racing prepared machines bounced back to the top in race two as Peter Hickman rode a stunning race to claim his second ever MCE British Superbike Championship victory.  

The opening round of the 2016 MCE British Superbike Championship at Silverstone proved to be a weekend of two halves for the JG Speedfit Kawasaki trio of James Ellison, Leon Haslam and Peter Hickman. Having qualified on pole position with Leon yesterday, coupled with a strong showing in morning warm up today, the whole team was confident heading into the races this afternoon.

Taking a strong start off pole, Leon was immediately running in the leading group and challenging for the win. Disaster struck on lap three however when a rare technical fault saw him forced to retire from the race. Similarly, Peter launched from his 16th place on the grid, quickly working his way through the field to be in fifth by lap seven. Running significantly faster than the leading four it looked set for him to be challenging for the win when, like Haslam, he was forced to retire from the race with a technical fault. Despite starting from 30th position on the grid, a result of his crash in qualifying yesterday, James sliced through the field – crossing the finish line in 13th.

With the team working frantically ahead of the second outing, all three riders were able to make it out and by virtue of their fastest times in race one would start with Peter on the front row in third, Leon in 15th and James 17th. Immediately climbing into second, Peter made his move into the lead on lap nine. Fending off the last lap, last corner challenge of four time BSB Champion Byrne, Hickman crossed the line to secure his second ever Superbike win, the team’s fourth overall. With a new engine in his ZX-10R, Haslam was unable to find the same feeling from the machine but still fought in the leading group to claim fifth. With more changes made between races, Ellison was feeling far more comfortable on his Kawasaki as he again carved through the field, crossing the line in eighth and setting the fifth fastest lap of the race.
 
Claiming his second ever BSB win Peter Hickman said, 

“What a relief! The first race was such a disappointment as we knew we had the pace to win, which if I’m honest was a little bit of a surprise to us after qualifying 16th! The team has worked so hard all weekend, and all over the winter. It’s a brand new ZX-10R, and the team is using new suspension, so it’s been a big learning curve but we came here and took steps with each outing.

The second race was brilliant. I got a great start and I knew I had the pace so just tried to concentrate and not make any mistakes. It looked like Laverty had a little bit of a problem so I knew I had to get passed him but then the last few laps I could hear Shakey’s Ducati behind me, I ran a little deep into the final complex and he came by but there was no way I was going to let him take the win after all the hard work so pretty much kept the throttle open and closed my eyes to the line!”

Despite the new engine causing engine braking problems in the second race Leon Haslam was still capable of running in the front group 

“Today has been a big disaster if I’m honest. We had a great day yesterday and throughout every session my race pace was real good – we did a practice run Friday and my time would have been enough to win the opening race. Starting from 15th in race two didn’t help and the new engine we used was a slightly different spec to the one we had used all weekend, which meant the engine braking and throttle connections were very different to before. It was a hard fought battle in the race and for some reason we were also suffering from quite bad chatter but we still came home in fifth. It’s frustrating as I believe we could have had two wins today but we can move on to Oulton ready to make amends.”

Having made a big step forward this weekend James Ellison is now feeling a lot better on his ZX-10R 

“Well, definitely a weekend of highs and lows for me and the whole team! I don’t want to blow smoke their way but they’ve had one hell of a job on this winter building three new Superbikes with a brand new machine, so to come here and claim pole and a win is incredible. On my side, we’ve just suffered a little with a lack of track time. We made a massive step forward on the first day and could go quicker but then we didn’t have the weather to properly tweak things, the first time we had the opportunity was in qualifying but I threw it up the road! It was entirely my fault and definitely put us on the back foot, race one was good and gave us a direction to go in for the second race, where we went faster again.

Overall, it’s been a really productive weekend. There’s still some things we need to try but with another test ahead of Oulton I’m pretty confident we’ll be able to run at the front.”

GBmoto Racing Team Principal Mark Smith-Halvorsen concluded, 

“What a rollercoaster of events it’s been! It started in qualifying, where we were set up to get all three into the final session but James’ crash and a set up change for Peter that didn’t work quite how we planned meant they suffered on grid positions for the opening race. On the other hand, Leon came back with a bang to take pole position!

Coming into today we were very confident. Leon showed in those first few laps that he was capable of challenging for the win whilst the rate Hicky closed down the leading group shows he could have too. Unfortunately two mechanical DNF’s thwarted their chances. Race two was much better for all three guys, James now feels much more comfortable on the bike and if he had more dry track time I believe he would have been up there. Similarly, although Leon had some troubles with the new engine he still came home fifth. Pete did an absolutely fantastic job though, and what a win. Those last few corners had Shakey doing what he does best by never giving up, but Pete was so determined not to let that win go!”

Hicky Celebrates his win