With the opening round of the MCE British Superbike Championship once again being held at the iconic Assen circuit in the Netherlands, the Lloyds British GBmoto Kawasaki team headed to mainland Europe confident of securing strong results. Working steadily throughout the three free practice sessions, James Ellison and Chris ‘Stalker’ Walker were ninth and tenth on combined classification heading into qualifying.

With Q1 getting underway in dry but overcast conditions, both Chris and James progressed comfortably into the second session. However their fortunes changed as the rain arrived mid-way through Q2 meaning that while Stalker progressed to the final session, James was unable to better his lap time, qualifying down the order in 19th. Despite the rain getting heavier, catching out a number of top riders, Chris qualified in eighth.   

A torrential downpour shortly before the start of race one saw a frantic grid as tyre choice became critical with the wet track drying quickly. Suffering from an injured wrist, a legacy of a crash in morning warm up, Stalker gambled with a wet front and intermediate rear while James went with full wets. Unable to match the early pace of the riders on wets, Chris dropped back out of the top twenty by the end of the first lap however despite his lap times dropping considerably as the track dried, a further downpour on the ninth lap halted his charge, eventually finishing 16th. Using full wets, James was able to pick his way through the field, finishing the opening lap in an impressive tenth place. Continuing to work through the pack, James kept his head in difficult conditions to eventually take a stunning fourth place by the chequered flag.

With a dry track greeting riders for the second race, James started from 13th while Chris was just behind him in 14th. The duo enjoyed good starts but an incident into the opening series of corners between a number of riders saw Stalker hit from behind and unfortunately crash out of contention. Finishing the opening lap in 14th, James once again battled through the pack to take another well-deserved top ten, finishing the race in seventh position.

Running the Kawasaki Ninja 30 logos in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the iconic Ninja name, the Lloyds British GBmoto Kawasaki team will be continuing the celebrations at Silverstone by sporting a special one-off livery to be announced shortly.

Chris Walker said, “It’s been a very tough day at the office if I’m honest. I suppose we were due it at some point but I’ve not had one this bad in a while. Race one we made a gamble with the tyre choice that we thought could work, particularly with me suffering with my wrist from the crash in warm up but unfortunately with the rain coming again mid race it backfired.

Race two was completely dry so we were looking to make amends and after getting a bit of a Stalker start there was a bit of melee in turns one and two and next thing I know I’m on my back having been taken out from behind. They say these things come in three so hopefully that’s our bad luck out the way now. The team have been mega all weekend and the bikes certainly capable of the podium so onwards and upwards for Silverstone!”

James Ellison said “Looking at the big picture I’m really pleased with today’s results. I always come into a race weekend aiming for the podium but obviously with the injury that’s not going to happen and we’ve got to be realistic with where we are. The weather in the opening race certainly eased it slightly and we were nearly on the podium. With the second race being dry it was probably a better glimpse at where we are compared to the rest of the grid so I’m chuffed with the result – particularly with where we were at Donington.

I would say I’m about 70% fitness of where I was before the crash and we’re certainly still playing catch up but taking away the positives from this weekend, the team gave me a fantastic bike and we’re now firmly in the top ten in every session. Another two weeks until Silverstone will definitely help my recovery and I’m actually planning on getting out on the motocross bike for the first time since the crash this week so we’ll see where we are then!”      

Lloyds British GBmoto Kawasaki Team Principal Mark Smith-Halvorsen said, “Today’s results have been mixed – they were great for James but the complete opposite for Chris. We were battling with finding the right set up all weekend and as a result have lacked true front running pace. A crash for Chris in warm up just as he was finding his pace didn’t help and then we made a mistake with the tyre thinking that the weather would dry up in the opening race. Race two saw him taken out in the first couple of corners so it’s certainly not been the start to the Showdown we wanted.

From James’ point of view though he’s had a very strong weekend and has taken a big step forward in terms of his pace and the pace of the front runners. He’s getting stronger with every day that passes and with another two weeks before Silverstone I’m confident he’ll take yet another big step. Our bikes are working well, particularly at fast and flowing tracks like this, so it does bode well for the high speeds that Silverstone offers.”