From a press release issued by Hawk Kawasaki:

THINK! BSB Championship, Round 8, July 2

Knockhill, Scotland

Track length: 1.3 miles

Weather: heavy showers, 17°C

Track: wet, 24°C



PRACTICE



HAWK ZX-10R ON TOP IN KNOCKHILL PRACTICE



Hawk Kawasaki ZX-10Rs once again proved a force to be reckoned with in the rain by posting the second quickest wet time and the fastest overall lap during second practice for the eighth round of the THINK! BSB Championship at Knockhill today.



Despite torrential downpours, which halted proceedings for 20 minutes, Scott Smart lapped the 1.3 mile track in 57.185 to take sixth overall and second quickest time in the wet conditions. His team-mate, John McGuinness, topped the afternoon leader board with a 56.536 lap, achieved in patchy conditions at the start of the session.



“We were trying a few things in that session because we weren’t overly happy with the bike in the wet at Brands Hatch,” said Smarty. “The things we’ve tried have improved the bike. In fact the settings John ran at Brands Hatch worked better than mine, so we’ve now gone a step further with some different suspension internals and that’s improved it even more. I like the track and I’ve been up the front in both wet sessions so now we need to get a dry session and see what we can do in that.”



McGuinness was equally pleased with his Hawk ZX-10’s performance around the tight highland circuit and even reveled in the wet and tricky conditions.



“I quite enjoyed riding around there in the wet trying to find the grip,” said the TT winning Cumbrian. “The track’s difficult because it’s short and there’s a lot of aluminium on the ground in a few places, left by the cars, so you’ve got to suss out where the grip is. The forecast isn’t very good, but hopefully it’ll be either wet or dry, because at least then everyone’s on the right tyres. As long as there isn’t standing water it’s possible to race around here, but whatever happens I’ll get stuck in and give my best.”



Hawk Kawasaki National Superstock Cup rider Peter Hickman ended the day a respectable 13th quickest, despite never having ridden at Knockhill before. A number of Cup competitors elected to use conventional tyres on the drying track, but the 17 year-old opted for full wets to cope with the many damp patches still prevalent around the circuit.



“It’s not the best conditions in which to learn a new track,” said Peter. “Because it’s mostly dry down the straights but around the corners it’s wet, especially on the entry where you want to be pushing hard. That’s why we chose to stick with the wet tyres, which were spinning up down the straights, but at least I had some grip around the corners. I had a bit of a problem at one of the chicanes where the back end kept coming round and the front would hit the lock stops – that was on a dry part of the track as well! I’m sure it looked good for the marshals, but it wasn’t so fun for me. Thirteenth overall is ok for first time out, but there’s definitely more to come tomorrow.”



BSB PRACTICE 2 (mostly wet)

1) John McGuinness, Hawk Kawasaki, 56.536. 2) Sean Emmett, Ducati, 56.564. 3) Ryuichi Kiyonari, Honda, 56.824. 4) Yukio Kagayma, Suzuki, 56.867. 5) Michael Rutter, Honda, 56.900. 6) Scott Smart, Hawk Kawasaki, 57.185. 7) Tommy Hill, Yamaha, 57.373. 8) Dean Thomas, Ducati, 57.769. 9) James Haydon, Yamaha, 57.889. 10) Jon Kirkham, Suzuki (P), 58.408. 11) Denver Robb, Suzuki (P), 58.742. 12) Craig Coxhell, Honda, 58.917. 13) James Ellison, Yamaha (P), 58.923. 14) Gary Mason, Yamaha, 58.972. 15) Iain MacPherson, Ducati, 59.065