Oulton Park – Round 8: Strong Results for Hawk
Monsoon season strikes again
It was a confidence building weekend for the Hawk Colchester Kawasaki team, as both Superbike riders Scott Smart and Peter Hickman gained valuable points in the eighth round of the Bennetts British Superbike series at Oulton Park, Cheshire.
Once again appalling weather condition on Friday practice hindered essential progress that the team needed to move the results forward. Both riders plugged away through the wet conditions and posted some good times. The sun shone on the 2.6-mile circuit on Saturday for the third practice session and the afternoon qualifying session which allowed the team to get some essential dry practice and some new elements tested on the Kawasaki ZX10’s.
After qualifying in 13th position Scott Smart gained a seventh and eleventh place in the two wet Superbike races. In the first 17-lap race Smart gained a good start and despite a number of crashes in front of him he managed to bring the Hawk Colchester Kawasaki home in his best position so far this season. Smart commented “I’ve still got a sore shoulder from Knockhill and didn’t help it at all when I crashed heavily on Friday. I aggravated my shoulder injury and also did some damage to my knee. The bike felt good in the wet today and it was good to make some progress and get some decent points in the bag. I’m hoping that we will be able to carry on the progress at Mallory next weekend.”
Peter Hickman secured two solid 13th places from 20th position on the grid. Despite a run of bad form recently and some crashes it was a good moral boost for the team and for Hicky. Speaking with him he said “I’ve really struggled at the last few meetings and I’ve not scored in both races since early in the season. It’s nice to have two decent finishes and some points in the bag, the conditions weren’t ideal and I didn’t want to push it over my limit and crash. My main aim at Oulton was to finish both races, which I did and both times I got points. I’m now looking forward to Mallory Park next weekend and hope I can continue to move forward.”
The Hawk Junior Team had a mixed weekend, David Hallett had qualified 11th in session one when a high speed crash in the second qualifying session forced him to miss the Saturday evening race. New recruit to the team, Alex Camier, younger brother to Leon made an excellent debut appearance in the Hawk Colchester Kawasaki team and rode in the Maxxis British Supersport Cup for the first time.
He gained fourth place in the Cup race and 16th place overall in the Supersport race. Due to gearbox problems in morning warm up his three technicians Gavin, Chris and Andy worked miracles by removing the gearbox and with assistance from Gearlink Racing in a matter of 35 minutes assembled the bike and Alex started from the back of the grid. He said “It’s been a bit of a learning curve for me this weekend as the first time I rode the bike was on the Friday. I had a fairly big crash during qualifying on the Saturday and was feeling a little sore come race day. I just plugged away and brought the ZX6 home where I could, I felt pretty comfortable on it in the wet and reasonably happy with the result with it being my first time out on it. I’m looking forward to the rest of the season with the team and would like to thank them for the opportunity to let me ride it.”
Once again a special thanks must go to Gearlink Racing for there help during the weekend.
The next round is at Mallory Park this weekend 20th – 22nd July. A full timetable can be viewed by clicking here
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Carly Rathmell
Freelance Sports PR
For an urgent response please e-mail me
