Team GSR Kawasaki rounds out 2018 with their season best

The weather could not have been more perfect for the last round of the ASBK championship at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit over the weekend. While the sun was shining, Team GSR Kawasaki had a weekend of highs and lows, with their worst and best finishes of the season in race 1 and 2, respectively.

Saturdays qualifying sessions were eventful. Glenn and the team had a fast low side crash at turn 6 in qualifying 1, before finishing the session in P9. The bike suffered minor damage and they were able to fix the bike ready for qualifying 2. GSR Kawasaki qualified 12th overall for the 2 sessions. Starting from the 4th row on the grid was a positive start for the last round of the championship.

“The low side in turn 6 was a bummer, however, we were only down 0.1 in the first sector on that lap, which showed I was putting it all on the line. Finishing that session with 1.34.3 was a great step forward from practice. The boys did a great job getting me ready for Qualifying 2. Unfortunately, a few teething issues carried into the second session from the crash, so we didn’t improve our time and lost a few positions but overall we were happy with our effort and progress”.

Sundays races were also nail biting. Race 1 saw Glenn get a strong start, to make his way up the pack to 10th by Turn 2. The team were battling between 10th, 11th and 12th for most of the race, until a small mistake caused Glenn to run off track and lose precious seconds and pushed him back to 26th. He made his way back to finish the race in 19th. Race 2 also saw GSR Kawasaki get another brilliant start which found them within the top 10 by the first lap. The team was battling from 13th to 9th for most part of the race, until the last lap, when Glenn passed under brakes and clinched 8th position to finish off the ASBK Season with a bang.

“I am really disappointed with my mistake in Race 1, I got a great start and had a good few opening laps, however, I had a hairy moment out of turn 1 which resulted in me running off track in turn 2. I lost a lot of time and could only salvage 19th which is our worst result of the year. Race 2 I was determined to change our luck and bring home a solid result for myself and the team. I grabbed another great start and fought a hard race to finish in 8th, our best result of the season. It was an awesome way to end the season and it proved that with a good off season we can progress our way up the ASBK field”.

“I would like to send a special thank you, firstly, to Rob Harding from K&R Hydraulics for lending me his beautifully built ZX10RR this weekend and for providing an exceptional workshop for our team to work out of this season. The opportunities K&R Hydraulics have provided me have been overwhelming. I’d like to further extend my thank you to Kawasaki Motors Australia for their unbelievable support and for believing in me and everyone at GSR Kawasaki. Thank you to my team members Al Samuels, Mick Muldoon and Ryan Hughes for their hard work at each round and always having a bike ready to hit the track, thank you to all my lovely supporters for your ongoing kind words and motivation and last but not least thank you to my incredible Sponsors for helping make the last 4 races a reality. Those incredible Sponsors are:

 Kawasaki Motors Australia / Easy Mix Concrete / BJ Howes Metaland / Darby St Automotive / K&R Hydraulics / Singo’s Wholesale Meats / Veolia / Renault Australia / Parramatta Motor Group / Motul / SBS Brakes / Maverick Racing Development / Commercial Kitchens Direct / ThinkWater Peats Ridge / OZMC Leathers / Gimoto”.

 Bring on the 2019 ASBK Season!  #GS168

 Photo Credit: Andrew Gosling – TBGSport