JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s James Ellison has hailed his MCE British Superbike race weekend at the Brands Hatch Indy circuit as ‘mega’. Not only did he bag two race wins, he also clinched pole position and broke the lap record not once, but twice today.
The Cumbrian is still in shock, and can’t quite believe how well he rode today. He had phenomenal pace all weekend at the Kent track, and is gelling with his Kawasaki, and it showed. He has now closed the gap on championship leader, PBM Kawasaki’s Shane Byrne and is only six points adrift of taking the lead in the class.
“It hasn’t sunk in, I felt quite relaxed to be honest, and after race one I felt pretty chilled and then an hour before I started to feel a bit nervous and I thought ‘this is where I can do the double’,” said Ellison, speaking to bikesportnews.com at the track.
“In the past I usually had a podium, or then a DNF or a crash, and then last year I changed that withdouble podium, and then I got another podium here then snapped my leg, so it has always been a bit hit and miss. Having two races wins and a pole position is mega.”
In race one Ellison lapped a 45.313 breaking Gregorio Lavilla’s record which has stood for nearly eight years. Then in the final race he went one tenth quicker to set a 45.212, which left the rider very surprised indeed.
Ellison said: “The tyres have improved since Lavilla lap record and that was on a full Superbike too, so it is essentially down to the bike and I am glad that I managed to break the lap record – which was great.”
