Honda continue testing at Cadwell

The countdown continues to the Easter opener at Brands Hatch next weekend (6-9 April) and the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship teams have been making their final preparations as the Samsung Honda, Padgetts Honda and Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki teams have all been on track today (Thursday). 

The Samsung Honda team were back out at their home track of Cadwell Park as Michael Laverty aimed to pick up where he left off after setting the pace at Snetterton last week.

Laverty admitted he was pleased with his pace ahead of their final day on track tomorrow despite the team working to overcome chatter and Laverty also having a small crash at the bottom of the Mountain.

Laverty was able to run in the 1m:28s lap times but is aiming to break the 1m:27s barrier tomorrow, whilst team-mate Jon Kirkham was able to continue the work on tyre longevity with positive results.  

Laverty said: “We had good conditions at Cadwell Park and a list of things we wanted to get through. Today we have suffered with a bit of chatter, but we have been working through it, so it was better that it has appeared now as we have the chance to try and solve it.

“We still haven’t quite got to the bottom of it, but I am sure tomorrow we will crack it. I had a small crash today, but it was one of those nothing crashes; I just slipped off at the bottom of the Mountain and didn’t do any real damage so at least I got my first crash out of the way today!

“I was happy enough with the day and we still have tomorrow to finish off the final things. We were running in the 1m:28s, but I would like to get into the 1m:27s.”

Kirkham added: “It has been a good day and we got down to some reasonable times this morning. We then tested a few different things on race distance tyres and found a set up that I am really happy with now.

“At the end of the day we put in some new tyres and we went faster again, so it was a good finish; we did just under 90 laps and I am looking forward to another day on track tomorrow.”

The Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki team meanwhile have completed their final day on track after they headed north of the border to Knockhill.

Shane Byrne was able to complete over 80 laps with team-mate Stuart Easton also clocking up a similar number of laps at the Fife circuit with the team reporting good progress ahead of next weekend’s opening races.