BIMOTA RACING HAS STRONG DEBUT AT NORTHWEST 200
Bimota returned to the Northwest 200 last weekend with the likes of Ben Wylie and Brandon Cretu piloting their new BB3 superbike around the infamous 8.9-mile Triangle Circuit. Wylie and Cretu both securing top 20 finishes in the Superbike race. Wylie suffered some mechanical gremlins which prevented him from competing in the Superstock race but came away with a solid setup and data for the upcoming TT. Cretu consistently proved his speed at his debut in the event lap after lap, eventually running a respectable 4:45 minute lap and just missing out on another top 20 finish in the final Superstock race due to running off at one chicane.
Ben Wylie, Team Manager/Rider commented:
“After our week at the North West 200 the team are all well prepared for the TT, I am confident the way we have the bike now will be a solid base set up that will give us a great start around the 37 3/4 mile course”
Brandon Cretu, Team Rider, commented:
“I definitely feel we can come away from the Northwest 200 calling it an overall success. The Bimota has proven competitive and stable on the roads and we have valuable data for the upcoming TT. I got some solid finishes under my belt and kept getting faster and faster each lap. Can’t thank the team and my sponsors enough for all their support!”
Constantine Blias, Team Principal, commented:
“I’m really happy with the effort put in by the whole team, especially Ben and Brandon. They achieved some solid results that we will be able to build on at our next outing the TT. We had some small issues with Ben’s bike but they will be easily sorted. I’d like to thank Bimota and our other sponsors for their support and look forward to a successful season.”
Please visit the team website, www.bimota.uk.com, for more information on Bimota and the team or their Facebook page Amore Moto. Fans can also follow the team on Twitter @bimotaracing and both riders Ben Wylie @wyliewizzard and Brandon Cretu @brandoncretu for the most current updates.
More, from a press release issued by K-Tech Suspension:
Race News – Northwest 200
The first international road race meeting of the year, The Northwest 200 took place from the 10th to the 16th of May at the famous ‘triangle’ circuit in Northern Ireland http://www.northwest200.org The event is held over seven days with the first practice session on the Tuesday, second practice session and three races on the Thursday and the rest of the programme run on the Saturday. Tuesday’s practice was held in mixed conditions with showers constantly blowing in during the day while Thursday’s practice was held in much nicer conditions during the day with the races run from 6.00pm through to 9.00pm in the evening.
Thursday saw the Supersport, Supertwins and Superstock classes scheduled to race but this was cut back to Supersport and Supertwins due to an incident around the course. The Supersport race saw Lee Johnston take third position on his East Coast Racing / Burdens Triumph 675 using K-Tech products and Christian Elkin take fourth place in the Supertwin race on his McKinstry Racing Kawasaki ER-6.
Saturday’s racing saw good battles in all classes, first away was the Superstock Race that had got postponed from Thursday evenings schedule, this again was postponed due to a racing incident. Next on the programme was the Supersport race where Alastair Seeley (Tyco by TAS Racing Suzuki), Glenn Irwin (Gearlink Kawasaki) and Lee Johnston (East Coast Racing/Burdens Triumph 675) had a wheel to wheel battle over the 6 lap race with Seeley taking the win from Irwin and Johnston with the later two using K-Tech products along with six of the top ten finishers.
The Superbike race was again typical NW200 where slipstreaming plays a big part, at the flag it was Alistair Seeley (Tyco BMW Motorrad Racing) who took the win followed by Ian Hutchinson (PBM Kawasaki) and Bruce Anstey (Valvoline Racing Honda by Padgetts) with all three riders using K-Tech products along with eight of the top ten finishers.
The Superstock race also saw seven of the top ten finisher using K-Tech product including all three riders on the podium with Lee Johnston (East Coast racing/Burdens BMW) taking the win from Alastair Seeley (Tyco BMW Motorrad Racing) and Ian Hutchinson (PBM Kawasaki).
The second Superbike and Superstock races were not run due to deterioating conditions.
www.ktechsuspension.com