Samsung Crescent Racing’s Jon Kirkham has signed off on two days of intensive BSB testing at Cadwell Park in Lincolnshire by setting a personal-best lap time. After a heavy crash he came back strong with ever-quicker lap times and showing all the indications that he could very well mix it with the top British Superbike riders this season. Jack Valentine – Team Manager: “This was a last-minute opportunity to test at Cadwell Park and it came so late we weren’t able to fly John Hopkins back from America in time. However, his team-mate Jon Kirkham has been doing excellent work these past two days, developing electronics and chassis set-ups. His feedback will be invaluable to Hopper when he returns. “Unfortunately Jon did suffer a heavy fall yesterday, at the bottom of The Mountain. He took a heavy blow to his elbow and was pretty sore after tumbling into the safety barriers. The incident was not his fault. He undoubtedly had an uncomfortable night, but he came back and made excellent progress despite being tired – he’d flown back from Alpinestars in Italy very late Tuesday night. “Jon set good lap times on race-length worn tyres in the mid-afternoon, so before we finished he went out one last time on fresh tyres and knocked another whole second off his best time. He’s showing strength and resilience, but equally he’s been able to far exceed his previous Superstock times and been able make the psychological jump of stepping it up when the opportunity arises. I can see Jon having a very successful Rookie season in British Superbikes.” Samsung Crescent Racing’s next test will be at Croft in early April.