MIXED FORTUNES FOR HAWK KAWASAKI British Superbikes – Cadwell Park – Round 11 Varying weather conditions played a crucial part this weekend for Hawk Kawasaki, at the eleventh round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Cadwell Park, Monday 28th August. The three Hawk riders, Dean Thomas, Craig Coxhell and Peter Hickman scored a mixed bag of results in the two races around the technical and twisty 2.17-mile circuit. Thomas who is still recovering from serious injuries, found the weekend’s racing hard going on the unforgiving circuit and claimed a strong eighth and 11th place respectively. After qualifying his ZX10-R in 12th position the 33-year-old Australian knew he had a lot of work to do in the two 18-lap races. Commenting he said, “I knew Cadwell would be physically hard for me. I am still recovering from the crash I had at Snetterton where I broke some ribs and punctured a lung. Cadwell is a demanding circuit when you are fully fit and so I had a feeling that I would have my work cut out. The weather didn’t help matters as it made it a gamble when it came to tyre choice. I managed to score points in both races and hopefully I can improve on these results at Silverstone in a few weeks times.” Craig Coxhell suffered a number of problems over the weekend and could only salvage 16th place during the 50 minute qualifying session on Sunday. From that the young Australian managed to gain a seventh place in the first race. An incident in the second race saw him lose his chain at the Mountain Section, a visit to the pit garage saw this problem rectified and allowed Coxhell to rejoin the race and a lap down and finish in 17th position overall. “Cadwell is certainly not one of my favourite circuits and I just seemed to have problem after problem. It was a difficult weekend for me, but getting seventh in the first race made me feel a little better about everything. I crashed on Sunday at the top of the Mountain so I was feeling a slightly second hand and bruised during the races. I had an issue with my chain in the second race and I had to pull into the pits to get it fixed. I’m certainly looking forward to moving onto Silverstone from here as it’s one of the few British Circuits that I know fairly well.” Coxhell said. Young Rookie rider Peter Hickman had a varied weekend and gained a 14th and 15th positions in the two races. The local rider certainly impressed a number of people when he managed to qualify in 11th place on the grid, just in front of his elder team-mate Dean Thomas. The two races were full of excitement for the 19-year-old. After stalling his bike on the start of race one ‘Hicky’ had to start from the back of the field and worked his way through to a creditable point scoring position. Speaking with him “I’ve enjoyed this weekend and I know every weekend my confidence is growing. Cadwell is my local circuit, which I know well and I wanted to get some good results here, which I think I did. I had a couple of problems in both races but I know as the year has progressed, I feel like I have made some big steps forward in the right direction. Once again thanks to all the team for working so hard.” Superbike Race One Result: 1, Gregorio Lavilla Ducati 2, Leon Haslam Ducati 3, Ryuichi Kiyonari Honda 4, Shane Byrne Suzuki 5, Tommy Hill Yamaha 6, Glen Richards Honda 7, Craig Coxhell Hawk Kawasaki 8, Dean Thomas Hawk Kawasaki 9, Jon Kirkham Suzuki 10, Karl Harris Honda 14, Peter Hickman Hawk Kawasaki Superbike Race Two Result: 1, Leon Haslam Ducati 2, Gregorio Lavilla Ducati 3, Jonathan Rea Honda 4, Tommy Hill Yamaha 5, Karl Harris Honda 6, Steve Plater Suzuki 7, Michael Laverty Honda 8, Ben Wilson Suzuki 9, Glen Richards Honda 10, Billy McConnell Yamaha 11, Dean Thomas Hawk Kawasaki 15, Peter Hickman Hawk Kawasaki 17, Craig Coxhell Hawk Kawasaki More, from a press release issued by Centurion Racing: ANOTHER SUPERSPORT CUP WIN FOR SPALDING 19-year-old Pete Spalding carried on his winning form this weekend at Cadwell Park, Monday 28th August. The youngster who tied up the British Supersport Cup Championship at Croft took his tenth win from ten races at the technical Lincolnshire Circuit. Spalding was running well all weekend and managed to qualify in a strong 15th position on the grid. A strong start saw him move through the pack to tenth but he slowly dropped off the pace and was struggling to stay with the front runners. In the drying condition tyre choice caused a problem with all the teams and the majority of the pack opting for full wets, including Spalding. A last lap manoeuvre on Aaron Walker saw him take the lead of the Cup riders and bring his Centurion Racing Honda home in a low 20th position overall. Speaking with the New Milton based rider he said “I was struggling throughout the race with a trapped nerve in my elbow, which was causing me to have no feeling on the brakes. It was giving me a lot of grief and I didn’t want to push to hard due to the lack of strength I was feeling. I’m not happy with my result today as I know I can ride much better than that. Cadwell is a difficult circuit and I ensured that I did as many laps as possible during practice and qualifying to learn the track a bit more. I’m hoping Silverstone will see me get a better result in the Overall Championship.” Team Manager Gary Stubbington said “We are a little disappointed with Pete’s overall result even though he did win the Cup race. We will be sitting down together as a team and discussing what went wrong and how to move things forward for Silverstone in a few weeks time. We know the tricky weather conditions did play a small part in proceedings but hopefully we will be back on track for Silverstone.” British Supersport Cup Race Result: Pete Spalding Centurion Racing Honda Aaron Walker Honda Christian Elkin Triumph Rob Sketchley Honda Cup Championship Points: Pete Spalding 250 Aaron Walker 166 Christian Elkin 116 Mike Goodfellow 81