The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
The first round of the new season at Silverstone produced mixed results for the three G&S Racing Kawasaki riders over the weekend.
Zak Fuller pulled off a fine fourth place in the Pirelli National Junior Superstock championship race on his debut for the Wyberton-based team.
Team-mate Kevin Keyes would have been right up there with him but for a jump start which resulted in him being black flagged.
In the Pirelli National Superstock series, meanwhile, supported rider Jorel Boerboom secured a brace of 28th places first time out on the Kawasaki.
After a crash during the latter stages of qualifying, Fuller was forced to start his race from the seventh row of the grid on Sunday morning.
And, with the short Silverstone circuit not amenable to overtaking, it was going to be a struggle to get up into contention for the New Zealand rider.
But Fuller was up for the challenge and made his way forward to sixth place on lap six of 20.
He continued to fight within a large group of riders all challenging for fourth place.
Places were frequently exchanged within the group and, with two laps remaining, Fuller made his pass stick and took the fourth place which he held through the remaining two laps.
Keyes started the race from the fifth row and was soon in the thick of the action, but he was a little too quick to anticipate the lights and jumped the start.
He was given a ride through penalty, but instead of going through pit lane, Kevin had mistakenly thought he was to do a long lap penalty.
Unfortunately, the officials disqualified him for not completing the correct penalty and his race was over.
Meanwhile, Netherlands racer Boerboom was getting to grips with his new bike in the Stock 1000 class and spent free practice and qualifying making adjustments.
He started the first race from the 12th row and, after a red flag on the first lap, the race was restarted and Boerboom began to make his way forward taking up 28th place on the final lap.
In race two on Sunday, he started from row 11 and once again made steady progress through the back markers to complete the 22 lap affair in 28th place once again.
Team manager Tom Fisher said: “Both the Junior Superstock riders were brilliant all weekend and both were riding within the top ten.
“For Zak to come over from New Zealand and ride on a track that he had never seen before and finish the race in fourth place just proves he has the potential to win races.
“Kevin was unlucky to not qualify where he should have been but just could not string a good lap together on the short Silverstone circuit.
“He has not ridden in the UK for nearly three years due to the pandemic and but for the jump start and long lap penalty he would have been up there with Zak.
“Jorel is our supported rider this year; he is riding one of the team’s ex-bikes and has moved up to the Superstock class this year.
“It is a big ask for him to come from a 600 machine after two years away but he is making progress and his lap times are getting better with each outing.”
The next round is at Oulton Park over the May Day Bank Holiday of April 30 to May 2.
