The JG Speedfit Kawasaki team were able to turn disaster into delight on the opening race day at Brands Hatch, as despite both Leon Haslam and James Ellison crashing out of contention, Peter Hickman mastered the wet conditions to claim his second win of the season. Fortunately both riders escaped serious injury and will be looking to compete tomorrow.

Things started well for all three riders during opening practice on Friday, with Peter ending FP2 in second whilst Leon and James were comfortably in the top ten. With Saturday seeing final practice, qualifying and the opening race it was a busy day for the team. Disaster first struck in qualifying for Leon, as a snapped handlebar saw him crash out of contention in Q2 leaving him 17th on the grid. Peter would go on to qualify 11th whilst James would go through to the final session to secure a seventh place finish.

The opening race was punctuated by several accidents, rain, restarts and pace car interventions. In conditions that could only be described as a ‘lottery’ two riders lucked out and one had luck on his side.

After the first stoppage Leon battled up from his lowly grid position to get as far as second place before rain started falling, holding up proceedings, with wet practice and a further restart. In difficult conditions Leon set off strongly but was highsided on the very first lap. James then led from Peter but was incredibly unlucky to slip off on lap six. It was left to Peter to hold his nerve and take a popular win, his second of the season.
               
A disappointed Leon Haslam said 

“I feel more gutted than anything right now but I haven’t given up. I had come back from the crash we had this morning, to be pushing through the pack and was up to second before the rain came.

On the restart it was tricky and I had a few moments so I eased off a little, but then it obviously wasn’t enough as it just threw me off and slapped me down pretty hard. I just feel a bit sore and stiff now so I have got some ice on it and I am going to be ready for tomorrow.

For me the situation is the same as it was today; I have to win both races tomorrow and I have to hope that some of the other guys get between me and Shakey. But we saw today that anything can happen so I certainly haven’t given up on the title yet.”

Having his first victory snatched from his hands, James Ellison explained, 

“That was such a difficult race and to be honest it felt like an ice rink out there, it was a bit of a lottery. The problem with leading in those conditions is you have to try and work out the pace and how far you can push, so when I hit the front that became my job and I just hit a really slippery patch. Its gutting but that’s racing! We try again tomorrow!”


Taking his second win of the season and leading the Riders Cup, Peter Hickman said 

“People were saying at the start of the race it was my kind of conditions but to be honest just to finish the race was a hard thing! I’m not sure if you could see it on the TV but my bike was moving around a lot and the two left handers on the Indy circuit were like ice. When James came through I was quite happy as it meant he could test the conditions but when I saw him go down he did absolutely nothing wrong so I panicked a bit more! From that point my plan was just to keep going, being cautious and if someone came by me I would then change tactics. Thankfully we were able to manage from the front and the bike was working fantastically so a huge thank you to the JG Speedfit Kawasaki team!”

GBmoto Racing Team Principal, Mark Smith-Halvorsen concluded, 

“It’s been a disastrous day for the Championship and I’m really sorry to see both Leon and James take knocks. Thankfully they have both been declared fit to ride which is good news for tomorrow but the odds are really stacked against us now. The silver lining to an otherwise dark cloud of a day was Peter, who rode a fantastic race in what everyone could see was treacherous conditions. He really was the man of the race and the man of the moment so I’m really pleased for him and for the JG Speedfit Kawasaki team who claimed another race victory!”