A busy week of road racing at the recent Southern 100 and Walderstown road races saw the KMR Kawasaki team of Jamie Hamilton, Connor Behan, James Cowton and Joe Faragher record a clutch of top class results with wins and podiums recorded aplenty.
The Southern 100 course on the Isle of Man was bathed in sunshine all week and, making just his second appearance around the 4.25-mile Billown circuit, Hamilton was in fine form throughout. Opening his account with fourth in Tuesday evening’s 1000cc race, this was followed up on the next night with fifth in the second 1000cc race, a win in the first Supertwins outing and another fourth, this time in the Supersport 600cc race. Thursday saw him claim third in the second Supertwins event and fourth in the feature Solo Championship race to wrap up a highly productive week.
Yorkshire’s Cowton and Manxman Faragher joined him in the Supertwins races with the former recording excellent third and fourth place finishes and the latter, having just his second ever road race, acquitting himself well with 13th and 15th in the two races, improving his lap speeds by over 3mph from the previous month’s Post TT races.
There was little respite for Hamilton as he headed straight to Walderstown where he was joined by Northwich rider Behan and the duo were in contention for race wins in each of their outings. A broken fork seal on the Superbike meant Hamilton had to use the Superstock machine for the Open and Grand Final races but he used it to good effect with fourth and fifth respectively. Another win was added in the Supertwins class, maintaining his 100% record in the Irish Championship, whilst he nearly made it two wins, only missing out on the 600cc victory by 0.111s.
Behan, meanwhile, soon got to grips with the 2-mile circuit where he was making his debut and he went on to take second and fourth in the Irish Junior and Senior Support Championship races as well as third in the 750cc non-Championship event.
Speaking at the end of the week, a delighted team boss Ryan Farquhar commented; “All in all it’s been a great week for the team and all of the riders have been in fine form. Jamie rode well all week, finishing all of his races inside the top six and it‘s easy to forget it was only his second time at the Southern. He finished in front of a lot of more experienced riders and although we’ve a bit of work to do on the 650 and 600 to find a bit more speed, he put in some fine performances. Likewise James, and with third and fourth in the two Supertwins races, he did a fantastic job. He’s learning all the time and if we can get the 650 performing as well as we’d like, he’ll be in good shape at the Manx GP.”
“Jamie had to use the Superstock bike at Walderstown but, again, he did a great job. He’s getting more experienced with each and every outing and more than proving he’s fit to run with the front runners week in week out. He maintained his, and the team’s 100% win record in the Supertwins championship and that’s great for all concerned. Connor also had three good races and although he made a couple of wee mistakes and ran wide a few times, with second, third and fourth in his three races I’m very pleased with how he’s progressing.”
“Finally, whilst we’ve all enjoyed some great racing and some fantastic weather these past few days, the meetings were affected by the loss of four competitors, three at the Southern and one at Walderstown, and everyone at KMR Kawasaki is thinking of all the family and friends at this sad time.”
The team now head to Oliver’s Mount, Scarborough for the Cock o’ the North road races, which take place this weekend July 21-22.
