With the Lloyds British GBmoto Kawasaki team running a special Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle livery, it was an emotional return to the podium for James Ellison when he claimed third position in the second race. Despite suffering more than expected with his injury, Chris ‘Stalker’ Walker was still able to bag two point scoring rides.
It was a tough opening day of practice for the team with neither rider able to crack the top ten, however overnight changes helped both James Ellison and Chris Walker leap up the standings, finishing the wet third practice in third and fourth. Qualifying got underway in wet but crucially drying conditions and it was Stalker who was the first rider to venture out on a rear slick. With both progressing through to the final session, Stalker qualified in seventh with James one place behind in eighth.
Conditions were completely different come race day, with bright, sunny and dry weather greeting the newly liveried Ninja Turtle GBmoto machines for the opening race. Taking his now traditional ‘Stalker’ start, Chris leapt off the line to run fourth into the opening corner. Despite holding the position for the majority of the opening half of the race, his injury from the Assen crash proved too much and he was unable to maintain the pace, slipping back to the 12th by the flag. After a poor start, James entered into a huge nine rider dice for sixth place before a mistake saw him drop to fifteenth. Fighting back, he crossed the line in eleventh.
Starting the second race in fifth for James and 14th for Stalker and with both riders making big changes, the team were confident they could secure better results. Grabbing a strong start James ran fourth into the opening corner and proved that was capable of running with the leaders – the first time since his horrific Brands Hatch crash. Moving up to third when Brookes crashed, James held off Title Fighter Bridewell and Assen winner Waters to claim an emotional return to the podium. Suffering with his injury, Chris fought through the pain to claim twelfth.
Speaking after his emotional podium return, James Ellison said “That was certainly an exciting race – I’m just starting to breathe normally again now! I’ve not run at the front since the accident and I tried to stay with Shakey and Kiyo but their pace was so fast. It was great to battle with Tommy Bridewell and to cross the line in third was incredible. It was definitely one of the best podiums of the year – it’s been a long battle back from the crash but I feel like we’ve taken a big step this weekend.
I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone in the GBmoto team, everyone who’s helped me and to all my supporters. I’d also like to thank Mark in particular, he never put anyone else on the bike and backed me throughout – they’re a very special team and I would love to be back with them again next year. We head to Brands now where I hope to be back on the podium and make amends for July!”
Chris Walker said, “To be honest it’s been a really long day today. I knew it would be a tough weekend from Friday morning as I’ve struggled a lot more with the Assen crash than I thought I would. We got lucky with the weather yesterday which definitely helped us out for today as we were able to qualify a bit higher up than perhaps we could have in the dry.
I certainly struggled more in the second race than I did in the first, even though we were running a faster pace. I got a fantastic start in the opening race and was running fourth for a lot of it, unfortunately I just couldn’t’ maintain the pace and we struggled a bit with grip. In the second race, although the bike was a lot better I just really struggled with the strength. I’ve only trained once since Assen so with two weeks to go before Brands we’ll get some training in and finish the season on a high!”
Lloyds British GBmoto Kawasaki Team Principal Mark Smith-Halvorsen said, “What a result! If I’m honest we were a little bit shocked with the results from race one and it wasn’t where we expected to be. The guys made some changes in between and it looks like we were able to give James the grip that he needed to run at the front and claim an incredibly well deserved finish. It’s a real shot in the arm for the team – particularly at a time when our form has dropped slightly and it should be a big boost for James who’ll no doubt be looking to finish the season strongly at Brands.
The injury Chris picked up in the crash at Assen has really hampered his endurance all weekend. It’s clear to see that although he’s had the pace and strength to run at the front, particularly in the opening race, he just couldn’t maintain it. We know what’s wrong now though so he’ll be pushing to come back much stronger and end the season where he belongs, challenging at the front.”
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