With bad luck and technical gremlins preventing Kawasaki riders James Ellison and James Westmoreland from showing their true potential at Snetterton, the team will be looking to rectify it as the MCE British Superbike Championship heads to Knockhill. Having won three races already this year, Ellison currently sits in third place in the standings whilst after a tough start to the season, ‘Westy’ has continued to take steps forward with each outing and will be looking to move up the pack in Sunday’s two races.

At just 1.2 miles long, the famous Scottish circuit is one of the shortest tracks on the calendar yet is also one of the most challenging. As a predominantly right handed circuit, tyre management is a crucial factor for a strong result and with just nine corners in total it is vital to secure a strong qualifying position.

Despite injuring himself at Snetterton, James Ellison will not be letting that stop him this weekend, “Following my crash in qualifying, it turned out I had actually broken a rib which is why we struggled a little towards the end of race two at Snetterton. Since then I’ve been having treatment on the area, including Pulsed Magnetic Field Therapy (PMFT), which has really helped. Thankfully it’s not a big injury and hasn’t stopped me training or even riding a bike so I don’t believe it will hinder me this weekend, although it might mean we struggle a little under heavy braking.

As a circuit, Knockhill is a great track and I always enjoy going north of the border to Scotland as the support from fans is fantastic. Its short and twisty nature means the races will be tough but we were quick last year and I’m confident we can be pushing towards the front Sunday!”

With two DNF’s last time out, James Westmoreland is eager to break into the top ten at Knockhill, “It’s no secret that we’ve had a tough start to the season but the team have been fantastic and we’ve made steps forward with every session and last time out we were comfortably running top ten pace. We’ve got some things to try this weekend that will hopefully give me the feeling that I want which will see us up the front and challenging for strong positions.

Knockhill is one of my favourites and is a really unique circuit that is great fun to ride. I’ve always seemed to have gone well there so I’m looking forward to getting out on the Kawasaki ZX-10R Friday morning. Hopefully the weather stays good too, although with Knockhill the rain is never usually too far away! ”

HG Speedfit Kawasaki Team Principal Mark Smith-Halvorsen added, “Snetterton was certainly a tough weekend and to have three DNF’s is not something that we’re used to. We know what happened however and have taken steps to prevent these things from happening again so I’m positive that we’ll see both James Ellison and James Westmoreland putting the JG Speedfit Kawasaki machines where they belong.

Even with the troubles at Snetterton, the team worked fantastically and proved that we’re capable of running at the front no matter the circuit. We still sit in the Showdown with Ellison whilst Westy has been improving all the time and I’m looking forward to seeing what they can both do here at Knockhill.”