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TOP TEN FINISHES FOR HAWK KAWASAKI
 Round 3 - Thruxton - 17th April
Hawk
Kawasaki rider Dean Thomas secured two top ten finishes at the third
round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship on Bank Holiday
Monday (17th April). 33-year-old Thomas gained a ninth and sixth place
in the two Superbike races at Thruxton Circuit. After a fantastic
qualifying position of fourth place on the grid, his second front row
start this season, it was always going to be a difficult task to stay
with the factory machines of Ducati and Honda at the super fast
2.4-mile track.
It was the first dry race day so far this season
and with a bumper crowd of 35''000 spectators it was a great day for
some fantastic racing. Hawk Kawasaki Team Manager Stuart Hicken made
the decision to pull the injured Craig Coxhell out of the two races to
avoid further damage to his injured shoulders. Coxhell made a valiant
attempt all weekend to try and bear the pain but it was obvious the
23-year-old Australian was in a lot of discomfort.
Youngster of
the pack, 19-year-old Peter Hickman was once again unlucky not to score
his first points of the season. Tied up in some of the best battles of
the race Hickman was dicing for 14th place in the first race and ended
just outside the points in 18th after a fraught battle with Gary Mason,
Steve Plater and Privateer Champion James Buckingham. In race two,
Hickman lead a freight train of five riders for 12th position but sadly
ended up crashing on lap 19 of the 22.
Sheffield based Thomas
was content with his results saying ''I had a disaster with tyres in
the first race and to avoid crashing I just wanted to ensure that I
brought the bike home. This made it difficult for me to stay with the
front runners, as I had no grip what so ever. The second race was much
better and the ZX10 felt a lot smoother to ride. I knew we would
struggle with horsepower here and the likes of Kiyo and Lavilla came
past me like I was stood still. I tried to conserve my tyres a little
more and managed to get past Michael (Rutter) in the closing stages of
the race. We still have a lot of work to do with the bike but we are
definitely getting there.''
Lincolnshire rider Hickman was
disappointed not to have scored points saying ''It''s very frustrating
not ending up in the points as I know there is a strong possibility
that I can do, I think I proved that this weekend. I really enjoyed the
racing today but riding a Superbike round here, certainly is a scary
affair and so fast it''s untrue. It''s a very difficult circuit to
learn in such a short space of time, I''ve been here on a Superstock
bike but the Superbike is like an animal around here. I''m not sure
what happened in the crash as it all happened so quickly but I''m just
thankful I walked away from it uninjured. I''m looking forward to
Oulton as it''s a track I know.''
Injured Coxhell said, ''I
really wanted to ride this weekend to try and get some Championship
points. Although I made a big effort all weekend I knew that it was
going to be nearly impossible for me to finish the races in the points.
Both shoulders were sore all weekend but during morning warm up I was
in the slip stream of Scott Smart and pulled out the pass him and got
the bike into a huge tank-slapper which ripped the muscle in my right
shoulder. It was so painful and knew then that I couldn''t ride in the
two races. I''m hoping to be fit for Oulton in a few weeks time.''
The
Hawk Kawasaki riders will be testing at the official British Superbike
Test Day at Oulton Park this Friday (21st April) and will race there on
the May Bank Holiday weekend (29th, 30th April and 1st May). For more
details please see www.hawkkawasaki.co.uk.
BSB Race 1 Result:
1.Gregorio
Lavilla - 22 Laps, 2. Leon Haslam + 4.460, 3. Ryuichi Kiyonari +
12.742, 4. Jonathan Rea + 18.921, 5. Shane Byrne + 19.058, 6. Michael
Rutter + 22.866, 7. Glen Richards + 30.839, 8.Tommy Hill + 30.974, 9.
Dean Thomas + 34.210 (Hawk Kawasaki), 10. Michael Laverty 34.252, 18.
Peter Hickman + 53.786 (Hawk Kawasaki)
BSB Race 2 Result:
1.Gregorio
Lavilla 22 Laps, 2. Leon Haslam + 6.337, 3. Karl Harris + 15.230, 4.
Ryuichi Kiyonari + 15.566, 5. Jonathan Rea + 21.323, 6. Dean Thomas +
25.437 (Hawk Kawasaki), 7. Michael Rutter + 30.305, 8. Shane Byrne +
34.977, 9. Tommy Hill + 38.501, 10. Scott Smart + 42.610
Championship Standings after Round 3
Lavilla 132
Haslam 96
Kiyonari 87
Harris 57
Rea 54
Byrne 45
Smart 44
Rutter 44
Laverty 42
Thomas 40
15th Craig Coxhell 18
www.hawkkawasaki.co.uk
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