A MIXED FIRST BSB WEEKEND FOR GR MOTOSPORT AT SILVERSTONE
After the incredible amount of work done over the winter we were really looking forward to the first round to finally revel the all new STARLINE RACING and STAUFF Fluid Power liveries.
The team spend two full days in the terrible weather conditions setting up and preparing for everyone including ourselves to see the final new image in all its glory for the first time. We have to say that we are very proud of the positive reaction from everyone it has been incredible.
The sun came out to welcome Friday’s first track action of 2023 and stayed with us all weekend helping the holiday feel of the Easter weekend.
STARLINE Racing Kawasaki Superbike
Storm Stacey’s STARLINE Powered by LKQ Euro Car Parts Kawasaki has had many upgrades over the winter including Swing Arms, Forks, Arrow Exhaust and a couple of new Team members so we were looking forward to the weekend. Throughout practice everything started to work really well sitting well going into Q1.
Q1 Storm was fast straight out of the box and pushed through into Q2 which is where things went wrong for us. We had an engine break and the bike caught fire forcing Storm to abandon ship but qualified 18th not quite where we wanted to be. The engine damage would have been enough to deal with on the one bike rule but the fire damage caused real problems for the Team to sort.
These problems continued to dog us all weekend but the incredible Team work and Storms skill meant we had 3 race finishes but no points to reward all the hard work..
Storm Stacey said: “it has been a really tough weekend for us all. I am really happy with the Team the atmosphere is good we just need to sort these problems out for the next race at Oulton and I am ready to go” !
STAUFF Fluid Power Kawasaki Superstock 1000
The Superstock bike has been a real labour of love over the winter to get the absolute maximum out of our Kawasaki ZX10RR for Joe Francis. I believe that the Team has produced probably the best STK Kawasaki anywhere and Joe has managed to extract every last ounce of performance out of her at Silverstone.
Joe is an incredible rider who is able to hit really fast lap times straight away and then work away to improve. The Superstock class has a big entry needing an A and B group for practice and qualifying and we were in B so we did get to see what was needed and the pace was HOT ending practice in 7th overall 3 tenths from the front. Going into qualifying Joe knew he needed something special and on lap 9 he delivered taking 2nd in group and 4th overall but would we be able to maintain these lap speeds for 22 laps?
In both races Joe made great starts but we are not able to maintain the pace against the bikes with power and traction control, both areas we are missing out on. Joe kept his head down and took 2 very strong seventh places sitting him 6th in the championship going into the next round at Oulton Park in 2 weeks.
Joe Francis said: “I feel good in myself and I really have a good bike and team, but we are down on power and because of the rules we don’t have traction control like the Honda’s so it makes it difficult to compete when the tyre grip drops. We will continue to do our best making sure I am top Kawasaki and taking on a few of the others too. The next round is at my home track of Oulton Park so I am excited and looking forward to it.