The Pr1mo Bournemouth Kawasaki Racing team were in British Superbike Championship action again at the weekend, participating in the first ever round outside of the British Isles. However, it was no foreign adventure for the team with just three points to show for their spirited efforts at the Assen circuit in Holland.
Team leader Chris Walker has fond memories of the circuit, having won a World Superbike Championship round there back in 2006, but it wasn't as kind to him six years on and he had to battle extremely hard to rack up those aformentioned three points. Having qualified in 17th place, race 1 saw Chris make a good start to move up to 12th but he soon found himself out of the points and down in 18th. However, he kept battling until the end of the 18 laps and, having overtaken three riders in the final lap, he was rewarded with 15th and a single Championship point. The second encounter saw him in the points throughout and after a race long battle with a group of riders battling it out for 9th to 14th, he crossed the line in 14th for two more points, which was enough to maintain his tenth place overall in the Championship table.
For new team member Victor Cox, his British Superbike Championship debut was most definitely a baptism of fire. The Trowbridge rider, who currently lies in third place in the National Superstock 1000cc Championship, put in a solid performance in qualifying to place 25th but his first race was over almost before it had begun after a first lap crash with Tristan Palmer. He was then lying in 21st in the second when he suffered a rear wheel failure at the chicane on the final lap, crashing out, fortunately without serious injury.
Speaking afterwards, team owner Pete Extance commented: "It was great for the team and all concerned to go to such a great venue and although we're not 100% happy with the results,at least we held our Championship position. As always, Chris battled hard throughout the weekeend but the harder compound tyre didn't work for him in the first race and then the softer compound one went off in the second!
They were certainly 3 hard earned points and staying inside the top ten of the Championship was the least he deserved. We were really pleased with the efforts of Victor and, as well as improving throughout the three days, he was an absolute pleasure to work with. A simple case of bad luck meant he suffered two DNFs but he proved that he has the potential to succeed in the Superbike class and we'd like to thank Ian Lougher and everyone at ILR Kawasaki for allowing Victor to race for us this weekend."
The penultimate round of the series takes place at Silverstone, Northants this weekend, September 28-30.
Pictures by Tim Keeton - Impact Images
