Oulton Park – Round 3 National Superstock 1000 Championship – James East – Idaq Motorsport – 4-6 May 2013
James continues his progression and achieves his first top 10 finish in the Pirelli National 1000 Superstock Championship.
Brands Hatch – 15th
Thruxton – 13th
Oulton Park – 9th
East has scored points in all 3 races in the 2013 Pirelli National Superstock Championship, and in only his 3rd race on the Idaq Motorsport Kawasaki ZX10R he finished in a respectable 9th position moving up 3 spots to 13th in the championship.
Practice
Just over a week before the meeting, the Idaq Motorsport Team tested at Oulton Park, gathering valuable data and settings prior to the event.
On Saturday there was a sudden down poor before the Practice session, so the team confident in the improving conditions chose not to go out on a risky water logged circuit.
Qualifying.
The sun had come out and the 1000cc Stock machines had a dry track to attack.
James sets a good time straight away, confident in his machine early on after the test. Struggling to find space on track for a clear lap James’s time is set early in the session.
Provisional qualifying position – 4th 1:40:223
Qualifying 2
A dry session again and James puts in a good time early on to sit P1 in the session on a time of 1:39:363.
James would not improve on this time later in the session, with some minor gearbox trouble East settles on his time and ends the session early.
Easty’s combined qualifying position is 7th place. Starting the race from row 2.
Warm Up
The team did a great job over night fitting new gearbox parts and James confirms the improvements in warm up.
Race
James gets a less than average start but is in the front pack on lap one. East is caught in a moment with other riders going straight on at Hizzys but holds his line. On the exit of the chicane James jumps out of gear which leaves a gap of around a second to the leading group.
From here James could run similar times to the leaders but could not make the time up.
On lap 6 James’s team mate Ward puts a late pass at Lodge corner, bumping in to eachother at the apex and for the next 3 laps the race is on for 9th place. However on lap 9 Easty re takes the position at Island Bend and maintains a gap of around 2 seconds to the end of the race in front of Steve Brogan, David Johnson and Peter Ward.
James – “ I am happy with the result as coming in to the round, top ten was the goal for me. As for the race I think I could of made a lot better start, If I did maybe I could of hung on to the leading group but I found my self in a position in the race where the grip was uncertain compared to qualifying so perhaps 9th is all I could do today, and after some small moments in the race I decided this was the case anyway.
The track temperatures were up and I have never ridden in these conditions, I found the bike moving around a lot on the side of the tyre and the bike reactions changed a lot throughout the race. I’m sure the time I had on track and what I experienced in the race is going to be very valuable in races to come and I will be ready.
I can’t express how much I’m enjoying this season, The Idaq Motorsport Team and PCR Performance did a faultless job both in preperation and at the meeting it’s self and I cant thank them enough for this. The bike is fantastic, I’m having fun whilst learning to ride the bike the right way and not pushing past anything I dont know. Top 10 again is my focus for Donington Park in a few weeks where the championship will support WSBK, and again for Knockhill for round 5. From here top 5 will be my goal and I am confident I can achieve this.”
