ePayMe Yamaha ready to bounce back after tough Thruxton

Stuart Easton had a disappointing end to his weekend at the sixth round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Thruxton yesterday (Sunday), crashing out in a high-speed accident in the first race.

Easton improved his lap time from the opening free practice session to qualifying by 0.448s, showing positive progress throughout the weekend and he was confident that he could score strong points, especially as the Yamaha managed tyre wear better than its competitors in the closing stages of the race.

Easton said: “It was another disappointing weekend unfortunately and I was lucky that I am only feeling a bit black and blue today after my fourth gear, off throttle high-side in race one as it was a pretty fast one! It wasn’t anyone’s fault; we just had a mechanical issue with a pipe clip breaking, which is just so unlucky. Unfortunately for me the bike had a lot of damage so it just wasn’t possible to make it out for race two.

“It was a shame really as we knew the ePayMe Yamaha would have the pace over the race distance and would be able to use the tyres better at the end of the race. Even before I crashed I could see some of the guys losing their pace as the tyres were wearing, so it was a shame we couldn’t capitalise really as I think we could have picked up some good points.”

Team owner Tommy Hill commented: “We were obviously gutted at the start of the weekend that John was unable to ride as we really believed that Thruxton would have been a good circuit for him, especially after previous years there and the combined force of the Yamaha. However we are looking forward to having him back at Brands Hatch and we want to be back fighting for the podium again like we were before his crash at Knockhill; something we know both John and the ePayMe Yamaha are capable of achieving.

“Stuart did show a consistent pace and used the sessions to focus on tyre life rather than one off fast laps. We knew that the Yamaha conserved the tyres better than some of the other manufacturers and so we were looking for a strong end to the races, but that’s racing sometimes. We will regroup and come back stronger for Brands Hatch.”