Elliott's race ended by first turn in Monza

Editorial Department • Published 13 May 2010 11:32 0 Comments

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Reigning European Superstock 600 champion Gino Rea joins Josh on the grid before the start.

Ballinamallard's birthday boy Josh Elliott travelled the 1250 miles by road to Monza, Italy this weekend where bad fortune finished his race early following a promising qualifying.

His team boss Gerry Bryce presented him with a brand new Kawasaki ZX600R for this round of the European Superstock 600 championship after he has struggled so badly with lack of speed in the first three rounds with his usual Honda mount.

The bike was kindly built and prepared in very short time by Nick Morgan of MSS Colchester Kawasaki and collected as Elliott travelled through England en route to Italy last Wednesday. His challenge was to adapt to a bike he had never sat on and a track he had never seen before!

The weekend started really well for the young Irish lad who was turning 16 on Sunday, as he amazed everyone with the fifth fastest time in first free practice. As the times tumbled in first qualifying the base suspension settings needed fine tuning and without enough spare wheels for the new machine Elliott dropped to 16th with the used tyres from free practice as other teams put in fresh rubber. With well received help and advice from the world Kawasaki team technical directors, set up changes improved the handling and Elliott bettered his times by 1.6 seconds and moved up to tenth on the grid, his best qualifying position to date.

With small changes to fine tune the handling Josh was looking forward to a good race at this famous and extremely fast track. He wasn't to even get past turn one before he was out of contention however, as another rider made an aggressive move across him banging into his bike and breaking off his front brake lever. Without brakes Elliott made sterling work to weave his way through the pack to avoid a serious incident on the entry to the first chicane. Realising his race was over he toured back to the pits.

"I am delighted that I got on so well with the Kawasaki. It felt so good straight away and it was nice to be able to sit with most of the Yamahas down Monza's really long straights. We didn't even have to make many suspension changes and by second qualifying I was close to the pace of the top guys.

"Obviously it is very disappointing to be knocked out of the race just after the start, but 'that's racing' I guess! I am very hopeful for the rest of the season now and look forward to learning more about the Kawasaki. I want to thank Gerry Bryce the Racedays team owner for changing machines midseason for me, Nick Morgan for preparing it so quickly, the help from Pere Riba, Fabien Raulo and the world Kawasaki team with settings and all my family and sponsors for making it possible," said Elliott.

Young Elliott has to switch his attention now to his books for the next six weeks as he starts his GCSE exams immediately when he returns home.

Team owner Gerry Bryce commented: "Following the struggle of the first three races with an underpowered motor it's a great relief to now have a competitive bike. Josh was one of only a few riders to set a faster time in the unfavourable conditions of second qualifying, and this on the 12th lap. There's no doubt that if he hadn't been taken out at the start he would have finished right at the front. He did a great job this weekend. Many thanks to MSS Colchester Kawasaki for building us such a competitive bike at such short notice and to Kawasaki Racing for their interest and support."

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 13 May 10

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