News 12 Sep 2016

Hunter Ford claims round four of the 2016 Kawasaki Insurances FX300 Ninja Cup

Kawasaki Motors Australia press release:

The starting grid was yet again bursting at the seams with twenty two optimistic contenders vying for Ninja 300 supremacy at Sydney Motorsport Park for the 4th round of the acclaimed 2016 Kawasaki Insurances FX300 Ninja Cup.

Having won both the first and second races, Bikebiz Kawasaki’s Sam Condon was a sure overall round winner until a most inconvenient crash early on in the final race.

Hunter Ford took his opportunity to capitalise on finishing as runner-up in both the first and second races by taking a comfortable lead in the final race, all the way until the finish line. Jimmy Broadbent, Jack Daws and Tom Toparis swapped positions relentlessly in their battle for second in the same race, providing the thrilling racing action that the series has become renowned for. It turned out to be Toparis from Daws, Broadbent and Pat Condon rounding out the top 5 in the final race.

Hunter Ford wrapped up the round on the top step of the podium in both the under 20’s class and overall.

“The final race was real good fun and it was a good race the whole way through. I felt like after the second race that I would be able to keep up with Sam and hopefully beat him but I just rode my own race when he went down,” commented Hunter Ford.

For the third time in the series, Tom Toparis secured an overall podium finish in the championship following his 3rd, 4th and second place results in races one two and three respectively.

“That last race was great, there was a good battle down to the end. It’s not a first which I would have liked but I’m happy with second overall so I can push through to the next round at Queensland Raceway which is a track I enjoy,” Tom said.

Jimmy Broadbent, of the Kawasaki supported SA Kawasaki BCperformance team was able to maintain his 2nd place on the championship leaderboard following a 5th place finish in the first two races and 4th in the last race.

Keegan Pickering was on fire as she took out the Ladies class for the round, putting her a mere one championship point behind the series class leader, Julie Klinker.

“We went really well today! We tried to find areas around the track to work on and improve and to get the lap times down a bit more compared to what I was achieving last year, which we didn’t manage to do and that was a little disappointing but we still have another round to go in Sydney so hopefully we can achieve the lap times we are working towards,” said Keegan modestly.

“We have made some adjustments on the bike seeing as my limbs aren’t very long including custom rearsets which make me feel more comfortable and today I scrapped my knee slider on the track for the first time which was exciting!” Keegan commented.

Mark Rogers continues his stranglehold on the FOB class after yet another performance that was nothing short of inspiring.

The next round of the 2016 Kawasaki Insurances FX300 Ninja Cup will take place during round 5 of the Australasian Superbike Championship at Queensland Raceway between 28th and 30th October.

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