The Hawk Kawasaki Team were disappointed this weekend (19th - 21st
May)after round five of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at
Mondello Park, had to be cancelled due to dreadful weather conditions.
Despite good qualifying positions from Craig Coxhell in 11th position
on the grid and Dean Thomas in 12th. The correct decision was made by
the Race Director, Stuart Higgs and his staff at MCRCB to cancel the
meeting as it would have been unsafe for the riders to have ridden in
such atrocious conditions.
With strong winds all weekend the weather stayed reasonably dry during
the practice and qualifying sessions. Coxhell, Thomas and Hickman
continuously improved throughout the weekend and they began to find a
good race set up for the Kawasaki ZX10. Hickman was unlucky to have
missed out on a higher qualifying position after the session was red
flagged, whilst the young 19-year-old was on his last qualifying tyre.
The heavens opened from early morning on Sunday, and it proceeding to
rain all day. Despite the valiant efforts of the organisers to
continue to run with the event, large amounts of standing water around
the 2.2-mile Irish Circuit proved hazardous for the competitors.
BSB Race Director, Stuart Higgs made the following statement: "Due to
the constant heavy rain we have been unable to prepare the circuit in
a manner suitable for competition. We had warm up sessions for the
Superbike, Supersport and Superstock classes and further reviewed the
circuit for racing. At 2.00pm in consultation with the Mondello Park
circuit and Dorna, a joint decision was made to cancel the event. The
Superbike races will not be rescheduled. The 125cc race will be run at
a double header at Mallory Park and a decision will be made in the
next two to three days regarding the Superstock and Supersport races."
The three Hawk Kawasaki riders of Coxhell, Thomas and Hickman will now
prepare for their local round at Mallory Park in a few weeks time, 2nd
- 4th June.
