JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s James Westmoreland bagged his maiden MCE British Superbike podium at Thruxton with a third place finish in race-one, and the rostrum was a ‘long time coming’ for the quiet Yorkshireman.
It has certainly been a tough start to his BSB campaign, with off par results which led to a few changes, including parting ways with his crew chief before Knockhill. But his ZX-10R has received some key upgrades and his team have been working hard to build a package that is capable of winning rostrums, and that was key yesterday.
Westmoreland admitted that the team have come from a ‘bad place’ in the first few rounds, and the future is looking brighter and he is happy that he has a crew that believe in him. It was unfortunate that the Kawasaki rider experienced a technical problem in the final race, but with a podium credit to his name he is up to sixteenth in the overall championship standings.
“It has been a long time coming and a lot of hard work to come from where we have. We have come from a bad place from the first three rounds and everything was wrong and the results weren’t coming - but full credit to the team as now round by round everything has been getting better and the team believed in me,” said Westmoreland, speaking to bikesportnews.com at the track.
“The last two weekends we have had some big upgrades and the guys have got me the perfect bike - people were starting to not believe in what I can do and today we had a bike that was perfect and I am made up.
“It has been difficult for me, and your in a team that’s winning races and you are finishing twentieth it is hard, but everything is clicking and the team have changed nearly everything with the bike.
“I had a parting of ways with my crew chief three meetings ago before Knockhill, there was many small things that contributed to us being where we are, and we have put the pieces of the jigsaw together now.
“I am not worried about the points, it is just nice to stand on the podium and I want to be fast and get the podium for the boys and they believe in me and to reward a tight knit team is mega. Even when everything was bad you don’t forget how to ride and I am a lot more confident, and you can see by the results.”
