James East – Round 4 –National 1000 Superstock Championship – Donington Park
WSBK Weekend
The 4th round of the National 1000 Superstock Championship was not held alongside the British Superbike Championship as normal ,but as a support class to the World Superbike Championship.
Weather conditions would be turned on its head from the start of the weekend to the end, greeting the teams with rain wind and un usually low temperatures, to race day being glorious sunshine and blue skys with temperatures reaching 20 degrees.
Practice
With a wet track and very low temperatures the Idaq team made a decision to not to take part in the practice session with an opinion that nothing was to be gained in the session as dry conditions were predicted for the remainder of the weekend.
Qualifying 1
Again poor temperatures and a wet track would mean the Idaq Motorsport Team would not take part in the session with the same opinion as practice.
Qualifying 2
Track temperatures were up and blue skys were above for the session. James took to the track but struggled with gearing and suspension issues.
The gearing decision James chose put him in between gears in certain parts of the track making it hard for him to run the corner speed needed. Also the way the bike was set up in terms of suspension meant that James had too much weight over the front end of the bike effecting grip on the brakes.
James would qualify 24th.
James – “ The session was tough and I am not happy with the way I rode, I could of used the session better but essentially if we had more time on the bike the problems wouldn’t of occurred in the last chance to set a qualifying time. However after looking at the data and talking over the set up with Dave we know how to fix the problems and I will improve for the race. “
Warm Up.
The set up changes were successful, James could brake later and the bike was stable. The change of gearing would mean James could run the necessary gear for each corner so his time in warm up was even faster than his qualifying time.
Race
James gets a great initial launch but gets boxed in at turn 1. James picks off a few people down craner curves and starts his assault through the pack.
East gets through in to the top 20 very quickly and soon catches the pack for the points and passes Dave Johnson to move in to 14th place. By the time James gets through, the group in front is 4 seconds in front.
At the flag the gap is 2 seconds and James finishes in 14th with a time of 1:33:5, 1.3 seconds faster than his qualifying time!.
EAST – “ I am happy with the way I rode and my progression in the race. As I have little experience at Donington Park my goal was to finish in the points, and we achieved this, however if my qualifying position was better I would of definitely been able to keep with the leading group at the start of the race. The team did a good job and my mechanic Dave was really helpful in the decision for setup for the race, so thank you to them. We will take this data and be fast when we are back at Donington Park later on in the year, at which time I will expect to be battling for the podium. We move on to Knockhill in a few weeks now which is a circuit I’ve had injuries in the past at and has generally not been a favourite of mine, however this year is different. I am very confident in my Kawasaki and my capabilities and I cannot wait to get to work. Top 10 will be my goal for this round. I feel I am improving as a 1000cc rider all the time and everything is going to plan for us to push on for better results in the 2nd half of the season. Thank you to everyone involved and all of my personal sponsors. “
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