BENNETTS SUZUKI OPTIMISTIC AFTER TOUGH BSB QUALIFYING

2015-05-03 14:35
A tough qualifying session for the new Bennetts Suzuki team at Oulton Park today saw Josh Waters 18th and Christian Iddon 24th on the grid for round three of the MCE British Superbike Championship, but the team remains optimistic ahead of tomorrow’s two races.

Waters progressed from Q3 inside the top-10 and has made progress with the set-up on his GSX-R1000, lapping the Oulton Park circuit faster than he has done in previous seasons. Sadly, he couldn't put the lap-time together in Q2 and will start the opening race from row six on the grid.

After breaking his leg at the last round at Brands Hatch, Iddon has been struggling to get comfortable with his GSX-R1000 on the undulating and challenging track. However, regular physiotherapy sessions over the weekend have helped him improve in every session and he is confident of improving again come race-day.

Josh Waters:

“It's been tough and it's so close out there. Eighteenth isn't good but I'm taking the positives from the performance in the first qualifying session. We moved in the right direction yesterday but the weather has hampered us a bit as we only had one fully-dry practice session. We made a positive step; we just need to make a bigger one. We'll spend some time in the garage this evening and keep working away.”

Christian Iddon:

“It was a pretty awful qualifying session for us today and I'm feeling a bit frustrated because the bike is better than I am at the moment and we're a bit behind on development after missing the test, but we've been making progress. The pain in my leg hasn't been the problem but the level of movement has; the changes of direction around here have made it really difficult as it's hard to move around on the bike. But we've been improving every time we go out, which is good and the leg is loosening-up and hopefully that will continue tomorrow.”

Jack Valentine - Team Manager:

“It's been a tough day but we know the Bennetts Suzuki GSX-R1000 is better than we've shown today. Josh has been working hard and the bike is a lot better for him now and he's lapped faster than he has in the past around Oulton Park. In Q1 he posted a very respectable lap time. Sadly it wasn't to be in Q2. The level of competition is so high and we're just missing a little something. But we are seeing Josh performing better than he has done this season with a lot more aggression, so we'll keep chipping away tomorrow.

"We've been working to find a way to get Christian more comfortable on the bike. He has been improving every session and I think we'll see more from him in the races. He hasn't been able to push as hard as he'd like so far and it's damage limitation a bit, but we're optimistic for a haul of points tomorrow to keep us in the hunt for the Showdown."

Oulton Park Qualifying Result: 1. Josh Brookes 2. Tommy Bridewell 3. Stuart Easton 4. Ryuichi Kiyonari 5. Shane Byrne 18. Josh Waters (Bennetts Suzuki). 24. Christian Iddon (Bennetts Suzuki).

Source: Team Suzuki Press Office

Click here to visit our forums to discuss this story