SAMSUNG HONDA HEADS FOR HIGH-SPEED THRUXTON
Fresh from the double-podium success of the Brands Hatch season opener, Samsung Honda heads to Hampshire this weekend for the second round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Thruxton.
With the Samsung Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade reaching speeds of up to 180mph at the high-speed circuit, former race winner Ryuichi Kiyonari is focused on building on his fourth place from the opening round in his bid to return to the podium.
After a pair of second places at Brands Hatch last weekend, Alex Lowes also has high hopes for the track where he scored his first pole position in BSB.
In the Motorpoint British Supersport Championship Jason O’Halloran is ready to overcome the disappointment of a crash at the season opener to fight back at the second round and get his campaign back on track at the fast Thruxton track.
Havier Beltran – Team Manager The Samsung Honda team is eager to get to Thruxton this weekend as in the past we‘ve had some strong results there and the nature of the circuit always produces some cracking racing. Everyone is really motivated to have another good weekend after a positive start at Brands Hatch last weekend. We want to carry the momentum from the previous round and continue the progression again this weekend in both the Superbike and Supersport classes with all three riders.
Ryuichi Kiyonari We made some more improvements at Brands Hatch and now we’ll see if we can make more at Thruxton. The track is very different and we hope that some of the changes we made at Brands Hatch will be good there. I’m looking forward to it because it’s very fast and it’s been a good track for me before. I want to move forward again so we will be trying very hard to make it happen.
Alex Lowes Thruxton is a really cool track and I can’t wait to get there as it’s really fast and I think it will be good for the Samsung Honda. It wasn’t until qualifying at Brands Hatch that we really got the chance to push the bike for the first time properly and it felt good. I’m confident for Thruxton and it’s a place I really enjoy so I want to have another two good, strong finishes and I’ll be happy.
Jason O’Halloran We’re looking forward to a better weekend at Thruxton. The crash at Brands Hatch didn’t make it easy last weekend, but we were able to draw some real positives and that will put us in a better position. The races were the first time I had ridden the bike for consistent laps in those conditions this year so I think at Thruxton we expect to be closer to the leading group and some close racing.
