The Quattro Plant JG Speedfit Kawasaki team were back in action at Snetterton this weekend for round six of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship.  

While it was a challenging meeting for the team once more, Héctor Barberá ensured it ended on a high note when he took a strong seventh place in the second race.

Despite never having ridden at the circuit before, Spanish rider Barberá, deputising for Glenn Irwin, soon got to grips with the 2.96-mile layout and qualified in 14th place which could have been higher had he not encountered a technical problem in Q2.

Team-mate Ben Currie, meanwhile, continued with his comeback to line up for Sunday’s first race four places further back in 18th.

With favourable conditions once more at the Norfolk venue, a good start to the first 16-lap race saw both riders comfortable inside the top twenty and by half-race distance it looked like the pair of them would score Championship points.

That’s exactly what Héctor did, coming through for a solid 12th place, but Ben unfortunately dropped back after running off track on lap 11 and he eventually crossed the line in 19th place.

The Australian was still suffering with the foot injuries he sustained at round two at Oulton Park earlier in the year and took the decision to sit out the second race which just left Barberá to fly the flag on the Kawasaki ZX-10RR. 

The former MotoGP rider put in a superb ride and although he was down in 14th at the end of the first lap, he made good progress throughout the race to continually move forward.

By lap six he’d already moved up into the top ten and this soon became eighth where he remained until the 11th lap when fourth placed Tarran Mackenzie crashed out.

That promoted him up the order to a fine seventh place which was where he took the chequered flag and it ensured he not only ended the race as the first Kawasaki rider to finish, but it also gave the team their second-best finish of the season so far. 

There were also two races on the schedule for the Molson Group British Sidecar Championship and luck was finally smiling on Ricky Stevens/Ryan Charlwood as they took a brace of third-place finishes. Team-mates Ben Holland/Lee Watson also enjoyed better fortune than they had at previous rounds with fifth and sixth.

Héctor Barberá said: “It wasn’t an easy weekend as the track and bike were so new to me. I needed more time to find a better set-up, but in the second race we had a much better feeling of the bike. The Kawasaki was very different to Ben’s and it was all very new and different for me but the team were fantastic and worked really hard to help me all weekend.

“Three days before today I was on the beach so it was difficult to come and try everything new. The Championship is fantastic, it’s incredible, and the fans are so passionate. I have a lot of experience racing but seeing the fans at the corners here is something very special and I’ve really enjoyed it.”

Ben Currie said: “It was great to get back out on the Kawasaki this weekend and ride it properly, it has been the first time I’ve done that since Silverstone. My foot was OK at the start but it got gradually worse over the weekend.

“I’m confident we’ve made a big step forwards this weekend with the bike and I hope I can make good progress with my foot and fitness for Thruxton.

“We got some good track time in this weekend and it’s still very early days in my British Superbike career; I just want to take it step by step and not make any stupid mistakes. I can’t thank the team enough for all their help and support and providing me with a great package and I have to focus on finishing the year in a strong position.”

Jack Valentine, Team Manager said: “It’s been a very productive weekend after bringing Hector in at the last minute; he’s a very experienced rider and did a good job for us at Donington. We’ve made a lot of progress with the chassis and now understand a lot more about the bike, which has paid off on Ben’s side too this weekend.

“He was not familiar with the circuit and he had a fuel pump issue in qualifying which was no one’s fault but put him down in 14th on the grid. I think if he’d been in about eighth, he would have made some good progress. It was hard being in 14th on a new track as you can put a lot of pressure on yourself to move forwards and then end up with a problem.

“In race two we made another really good step forward with the bike and his times were great. He made up nearly five seconds on the riders in front of him and had the pace to run in fourth place. He needs to work on his starts and get away with the leaders as that is the key.

“Ben is still not fully fit but did a better job than at Knockhill and he was able to compete all the practices and race one. I decided to pull him out of race two as he was in a lot of pain and it wouldn’t have benefitted anyone. Hopefully he can continue to recover for Thruxton.”

Ricky Stevens said: “We didn’t get as many laps in in free practice as we would have liked owing to a problem with the bike, but we still managed to finish third in both races.

“During the early stages at one point both sidecars were in first and second which shows we’ve got the pace. We were a little bit disappointed to only come third but hopefully we can work on getting back on the top step at the next round.”

Ben Holland said: “We were really pleased with our results this weekend especially since we’ve had such bad luck lately with the bike.

“A couple of issues with the brakes stopped us from finishing higher up in race one and in race two I developed a dead leg on my brake foot so we need to look at resolving that before Thruxton.”

To keep up to date with the latest news from Quattro Plant JG Speedfit Kawasaki you can visit the website or follow the team on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Ends 

Bennetts British Superbike Championship standings (after six rounds)

1 Scott Redding (Ducati) 226pts

2 Tommy Bridewell (Ducati) 188

3 Josh Brookes (Ducati) 185

4 Tarran Mackenzie (Yamaha) 144

5 Danny Buchan (Kawasaki) 132

6 Xavi Fores (Honda) 114

16 Glenn Irwin (Quattro Plant JG Speedfit Kawasaki) 39

18 Hector Barbera (Quattro Plant JG Speedfit Kawasaki) 31

25 Ben Currie (Quattro Plant JG Speedfit Kawasaki) 3

Molson Group British Sidecar Championship standings (after five rounds)

1 Ellis/Richardson (Honda) 220pts

2 Kershaw/Clark (Yamaha) 146

3 Blackstock/Rosney (Yamaha) 103

4 Holden/Cain (Kawasaki) 92

5 Bryan/Hyde (Honda) 91

6 Gray/Pitt (Yamaha) 72

10 Holland/Watson (Quattro Plant JG Speedfit Kawasaki) 58

13 Stevens/Charlwood (Quattro Plant JG Speedfit Kawasaki) 52

Ends

For media information, please contact: