Danny Eslick finished eighth in his debut race for ILR Kawasaki in the first round of the Pirelli National Superstock 1000 Championship at Brands Hatch on Easter Monday.

With the exception of a recent track day with the team at the Kent circuit a few weeks ago Eslick had never been round Brands Hatch before, but it wasn't long before the Daytona 200 winner was into his stride on the Ninja ZX-10R.

Both he and his experienced team-mate Robbin Harms were well on the pace from the first practice session with Eslick finishing first qualifying in sixth place and Harms a fraction of a second behind in tenth.
Any attempts to climb up the grid were frustrated by the awful weather conditions that blighted the second session and so the grid positions were dictated by the previous day's session, placing Danny on the second row with Robbin heading Row 4.



The race was only two minutes old when an incident at Paddock Hill Bend brought the safety car out and ultimately the race was stopped.
A quick re-start was announced over a reduced 20 laps but again there was drama, this time on the opening lap and it concerned Harms who was taken out of the race by Jesse Trayler.

Eslick was now the team's only runner in the race and the American lapped consistently for the opening seven laps before settling into 8th position where he determinedly remained despite a race long challenge from Daniel Johnson, as well as Hudson Kennaugh in the closing stages.

So despite the disappointment of Robbin Harms' early exit from the race, the team nevertheless took consolation from Danny Eslick's strong showing.

The next round is at Oulton Park on the 2-5 May, in the meantime the team will be at the Official BSB Test at the same circuit on April 25th.

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