It was a disaster of a race day at Silverstone for Title Fighter James Ellison as despite leading both races and setting a new MCE British Superbike Championship lap record, a severe lack of grip thwarted his chances. It was a positive day on the other side of the garage however as BSB debutant Luke Stapleford rounded off his Supersport Championship winning weekend by claiming his first Superbike points.

Kicking the weekend off strongly, James Ellison finished the opening Free Practice in fourth with new team mate Luke Stapleford impressing everyone on his Superbike debut by finishing in 18th. With both JG Speedfit Kawasaki riders improving their times throughout Free Practice two and three, James finished second overall on combined times with Luke in 20th.

With conditions remaining cold but dry for qualifying, James eased through the opening session with Luke continuing to surprise by joining his team mate in progressing to Q2.  As times continued to tumble, a fourth place for James saw him move into the final session whilst Luke secured 20th for his debut MCE British Superbike Championship race, with a lap just 0.7s off the lap record. With the third and final session seeing some of the fastest ever Superbike laps of the Silverstone circuit, James secured a fourth place start for the opening race.

After James finished second in warm up, confidence was high for the first BSB race and it was a storming start as he moved into second place by the end of the opening lap. James moved into the lead on lap seven a position he would hold until lap 12. Despite leading from the front, he struggled with rear grip towards the end of the race, eventually taking fifth at the line. It was a strong opening Superbike race for newly crowned British Supersport Champion Luke, who fought through from his 20th position on the grid to narrowly miss out on scoring points, taking the chequered flag in 16th.

By virtue of their fastest lap times, James lined up in fourth place for race two, with Luke moving forward two places to 18th. Despite a poor start which pushed him back to eighth into the opening corner, James carved his way through the pack to be fourth at the end of the opening lap before taking the lead just two laps later. Able to pull away from the pursuing pack, setting a new lap record in the process, he looked comfortable running at the front before a severe drop in rear grip saw him unable to match his times, slipping back to a disappointing 17th. It was a different story on the other side of the garage however as Luke continued his incredible ascension in the Superbike class by scoring his first points in only his second race, taking a stunning 12th place.

Now sitting 80 points behind the series leader, a dejected James Ellison said,

“I’m completely gutted. We’ve worked so hard to get back from the injury it’s a bitter blow to be ruled out today by problems outside of our control. We had some minor issues in the first race which meant I couldn’t quite maintain the pace of the others but I was feeling really good in the second race. 

We made some changes in between the race and the bike was mega, I definitely felt we had the pace to win. For some reason however the grip level just fell off a cliff towards the end and I was struggling to tip in and the bike was trying to throw me off. It’s tough to lose out like this but we’ll be back at Brands to try and end the season on a high.”

After securing the British Supersport title yesterday, Luke Stapleford rounded off his weekend with a stunning ride to score his first BSB points,

“It’s been an incredible weekend! Obviously wrapping up the Supersport title was our goal but to get my first experience on a Superbike was mega. I’ve never really ridden a 1000cc bike before and coming into the weekend everyone was saying there was no pressure but of course there is always some! 

We just took it step by step and to walk away from this weekend having scored my first MCE British Superbike Championship points and the Supersport Championship is a special feeling. That second race was great fun, mixing it up with the likes of Smrz and Buchan. The guys in the team have been mega and I’m really enjoying riding the Kawasaki – we’ll keep chipping away and will see where we are at Brands in two weeks!”

JG Speedfit Kawasaki Team Principal Mark Smith-Halvorsen summed up,

“Luke has had an incredible weekend, becoming the 2015 British Supersport Champion however even looking at him from our point of view it’s been impressive. His feedback, progression and performance over the weekend has been fantastic and to see him picking up points and beating guys who have been on Superbikes all year is really encouraging. 

On the flip side, we’ve had a tough weekend. We made some small, but ultimately fundamental errors and moved in a technical direction that hasn’t worked. The results are not a reflection of how James has ridden, he’s given 110% and was capable of taking both race wins however we haven’t put the right package under him. We’ll look at what happened and will come back at Brands next time out ready to make amends.”

MCE British Superbike Calendar 2015

16/17/18 October           Brands Hatch GP (Kent)