Kawasaki Motors Australia press release:

Queensland Raceway played host to the fourth round of the Australasian Superbike Championship over the weekend where the Kawasaki Insurances FX300 Ninja Cup provided thrilling racing and various Kawasaki Supported riders excelled.

Matt Walters was granted a front row start on his Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R in the first Superbike race after a podium in the AFX-Superbike Championship the day before. Matt broke through and took the lead in lap 5 of the second race only to experience problems with his quickshifter, jamming his bike into 4th gear and forcing him to retire. Matt came home in 10th position overall for the round after finishing 6th in the first race.

“The round instilled a lot of confidence. I’m Feeling healthier and fitter and it felt good to lead the second race. Overall we didn’t have the best results this time around but definitely looking forward to winning the next round at Wakefield Park, “Matt commented.

Sean Condon demonstrated his ability to lead and win Superbike races at the previous round of the Championship where he took out the first race aboard his Ninja ZX-10R. At round 4, challenges were presented in the form of a lingering injury sustained to his right arm during round 3. “Terrible is one word to describe it. I just struggled with braking and throttle because of pain and a lack of movement in my arm. I’m looking forward to being 100% for the next round,” said Sean who will receive surgery on the troublesome appendage before the next round.

The Kawasaki supported SA Kawasaki BCperformance racing team was primed for a big weekend after having the opportunity to carry out some invaluable testing at the circuit a few weeks earlier.

Supersport riders, Kyle Buckley and Paul Young are both showing major improvements with every round on their Ninja ZX-6R’s. Paul managed 7th and Kyle came away with 9th place overall on the stop-go style circuit. Kyle said, “it was a very positive weekend, I think that we made a lot of progress and were really starting to get near the leading lap times.”

In the Superbike class, Evan Byles managed to secure 8th overall while Ben Burke unfortunately closed the day last overall after he lost the front end of his Ninja ZX-10R during a valiant chase at the heels of the lead group.

After his crash in the opening round of the series, Jimmy Broadbent was finally able to race his Ninja 300 in a full round of the Kawasaki Insurances FX300 Ninja Cup where a solid 13th position overall was secured. Team mate, Paul Young, put in a stellar effort to take 4th overall after winning race one and retiring his Ninja 300 from the second race courtesy of a snapped gear linkage.

Paul rounded out the weekend with an epic final corner passing move that landed him the final race win by just nine hundredths of a second. Paul said, “top weekend from my perspective. Best of all was coming from last on the grid to win the final Ninja Cup race on the very last corner!”

Notable results in the 4th round of the Kawasaki Insurances FX300 Ninja Cup included Hunter Ford who took away 1st place outright as well as 1st in the under 20’s class, Keegan Pickering of NSW who took out the ladies class and Mark Rogers who topped the FOB class of the cup.

Due to high demand, Kawasaki Merchandise will now be available at each round of the Australasian Superbike Championship this year. The official ASC merchandise stand will be selling Kawasaki merchandise including Bar Runners, Stubby Coolers, Adult and Youth Backpacks plus genuine Kawasaki Racing Team caps. Kawasaki merchandise is also available from your nearest Kawasaki dealership. Find out more information on Kawasaki merchandise by following this link –http://kawasaki.com.au/accessories

Kawasaki supported riders are looking forward to the next round of the Swan Insurances Australasian Superbike Championship being held at Wakefield Park Raceway on 25th September.