ePayMe Yamaha set for home round as Hopkins and Easton set for Brands Hatch
ePayMe Yamaha head to their home round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch this weekend (May 20/21/22) as John Hopkins and Stuart Easton aim to build on their previous top ten finishes in Kent.
Hopkins narrowly missed out on the top ten at the previous round in Cheshire, but the American has a strong history of results at Brands Hatch and is determined to put his previous bad luck behind him in his bid to return to the top five.
Easton scored his first top ten finish with the team last time out at Oulton Park after carving his way through the field to secure his best result of the season so far in the tricky conditions. The Scottish contender, fresh from a recent on track experience with Lewis Hamilton in Barbados, is eager to carry the momentum into the third round of the season.
Hopkins said: “I am really excited about Brands Hatch and I want this to be where we really kick off our season and unlock the potential that I know that I have, and the team have too. We have had some small issues that have stopped us so far, but I remain one hundred percent confident that the ePayMe Yamaha is a race winning machine. We have shown that we have the pace to be at the sharp end, but unfortunately some issues in the races have held us back, but everyone is working hard to get us to where we should be.
“The Brands Hatch weekend couldn’t come soon enough for me. I have been really excited about his weekend since leaving Oulton Park because we had make big improvements with the chassis and our set-up. I really want to show what we are capable of this weekend and I am really looking forward to it.”
Easton said: “I am looking forward to getting back this weekend; Oulton Park was incredibly close and as a team we made more progress and to go from 21st to finish tenth in race two just shows that the potential is there when everything comes together for us. Brands Hatch Indy will be even closer, but at the last round we did some good work on our settings in both wet and dry conditions, although we still know we have a lot to do – but that is racing!
“We have been making some good plans since the last round on what we need to focus on and the team are working incredibly hard so that we can take the next step forward. We have something to build on, so we want to improve again next weekend and get some more good points in the bag.”
Team manager Tommy Hill commented: “Oulton Park was another one of those weekends and it was frustrating for the team, but we are all working incredibly hard to overcome the niggling issues we have been experiencing to come out stronger at Brands Hatch.
“John has shown he can be at the sharp end and Stuart is getting more comfortable now with the Yamaha; we know we still have more work to do, but we are doing everything we can do drive this forward and we want to come away from Brands Hatch with some strong finishes.”