It was a mixed weekend for the JG Speedfit Kawasaki team at Knockhill as James Ellison crashed out of contention in the opening race before a technical fault halted his charge in race two. It was a much stronger weekend on the other side of the garage however as James Westmoreland enjoyed his first top ten finishes of the season, taking hard earned ninth and eighth places.  

Using the good weather on the opening day, the JG Speedfit Kawasaki duo of James Ellison and James Westmoreland worked methodically through both practice sessions to fine tune their Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R Superbikes. Demonstrating his progress made on the machine, Westy finished the day with the tenth fastest time whilst Ellison battled through the discomfort of his broken ribs to finish with the twelfth.

With heavy overnight rain causing damage to the track and a thick fog laying over the picturesque circuit, Saturday’s action was delayed but both riders quickly got up to speed when the final practice session got underway, with Ellison finishing third and Westy 17th. With just over a second covering the top 20 in practice, qualifying was an equally close affair as Ellison secured sixth place on the grid whilst Westy took 13th on the grid just 0.585s behind the fastest time.

With the opening race starting under overcast skies, Ellison and Westy enjoyed strong starts to cross the line at the end of the first lap in sixth and 11th respectively before the pace car was immediately deployed. As the car came in on lap five, both riders were instantly back on the pace as James remained in the leading group and Westy entered a five rider battle for the top ten. Setting the fastest lap of the race on lap eight, Ellison had moved up to fifth and looked to be ready to challenge for his fourth win of the year however a rare crash saw him tumble of contention on lap ten. Holding off the advances of BMW riders Peter Hickman and Lee Jackson, Westy crossed the line in ninth place to take his first top ten finish of the year.

By virtue of their fastest lap times in the opening race, Ellison started from pole position with Westy again starting 13th. Launching off pole position, Ellison was second into the opening corner with Westy immediately moving into the top ten. An unfortunate error on lap five saw Ellison run wide and slip back to last position. Again embroiled in a battle with BMW’s, Westy was fighting for eighth when the red flag was deployed on lap 19, with Ellison having worked his way back up to 21st. Restarting for an 11 lap dash, both riders started in the position they finished the first part in. Taking an incredible start, Ellison moved up to 17th however a technical problem saw him forced to retire four laps in, whereas Westy enjoyed a hard earned eighth place to make it two top ten finishes.    



A disappointed James Ellison said,

“This weekend has been bitterly disappointing. I struggled a little with the ribs but we had the pace to be running at the front and chasing a podium and even the wins. I had a silly little crash in the first race, which was a weird as we didn’t do anything different but it was at the same corner a lot of the guys did too so I’m not sure if there was something there. The saving grace of that however was I had set the fastest lap of the race so would be starting the second from pole position. 

Again that last race I came into it very confident of a good result and following Laverty for the opening few laps I thought I could be quicker so put a move on him but it was a bit of a hard one and the forks bottomed out which tried to tuck the front. With the grass being wet there was nothing I could do but rejoin in last position. The red flag gave us a bit of chance to move up but the bike cut out on us across the straight. The team have worked flat out and the bike is mega, it’s a Championship winning package and we just need a bit of luck to get back to where we’ve shown we can run.”

Pleased with the progress, James Westmoreland said,

“I’m really pleased with today. I’m not going to lie, the start of the year has been a disaster and although as a rider eighth and ninth might not be where we want to be, given where we come from it’s a fantastic result. The team have stuck by me throughout it though and even made some changes ahead of this weekend and I’m finally feeling confident in the bike and can ride it properly.

When you come back from being so far down, we have to build on things slowly and gain the momentum which is where we are now. I’m leaving here smiling and happy and our next step is to move further up and secure a few top five finishes and focus on the podium. I just wish we could go straight to Brands Hatch now!”

JG Speedfit Kawasaki Team Principal Mark Smith-Halvorsen added,

“It’s been a bit of a mixed day today here at Knockhill for the team. Friday and Saturday were very positive for both sides but unfortunately race day for James Ellison didn’t go to plan. He has proved that he has the pace to not only run at the front and take race wins, but unfortunately some little mistakes have cost him this weekend. 

For James Westmoreland it’s been an incredibly positive day as he secured two well-earned top ten finishes and more importantly is happy and confident with the bike which proves that some of the changes made between Snetterton and here have worked. As a whole, the team have again worked tirelessly and the results are certainly not a reflection of the input and we’ll be looking to improve our fortunes in two weeks at Brands Hatch.”

MCE British Superbike Calendar 2015

4/5/6 April                      Donington Park GP (Leicestershire) 
17/18/19 April                Brands Hatch Indy (Kent) 
2/3/4 May                      Oulton Park International (Cheshire) 
19/20/21 June                Snetterton 300 (Norfolk)
3/4/5 July                       Knockhill (Fife) 
17/18/19 July                 Brands Hatch GP (Kent)
31 July - 1/2 August       Thruxton (Hampshire)
21/22/23 August            Cadwell Park (Lincolnshire)
4/5/6 September            Oulton Park International (Cheshire)
18/19/20 September      TT Circuit Assen (The Netherlands)
2/3/4 October                Silverstone GP (Northamptonshire)
16/17/18 October           Brands Hatch GP (Kent)