Paul Bird Motorsport rider Broc Parkes made the most of his guest appearance ride in round eight of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch this weekend by recording a hat trick of runner-up placings aboard the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R.
Using the event as extra track time in the mid-summer break of the World Superbike Championship which the team is contesting this year, the Australian rider topped Friday's free practice session before qualifying on the front row of the grid for all three of the weekend's races. Making a good start in all of them, Parkes headed the field in the early stages in all three outings before gradually being overhauled by championship leader Leon Camier who denied him a win but nonetheless, the exercise proved beneficial for the www.supercasino.com, Vent-Axia, Kick Energy and Henleys-backed Kawasaki Superbike Racing Team.
Meanwhile, South African team-mate for the weekend Sheridan Morais, deputising for the injured Makoto Tamada, endured a weekend of mixed fortunes and despite crashing during qualifying he also started all three races from the front row of the grid. After a huge crash in the opening race on Saturday, which saw Morais emerge uninjured, he bounced back in Sunday's two races with a pair of top ten positions amidst some of Britain's best racers.
Broc Parkes: "I was not sure what pace to expect coming into the BSB this weekend as there are a number of top teams and riders this year and the performance at Brno was on an entirely different type of circuit to Brands. However the improvements made recently are really starting to show returns and the bike was the best it has been all year. I was able to battle with the factory Yamaha for the first time and really pushed them all weekend. It was a great result for the team and for Paul Bird to return to BSB and secure three podiums will hopefully address some of the disappointment we all had from Donington."
Sheridan Morais: "I'd have liked to have been a lot further up in all of the races but the big crash we had on Saturday hindered our progress and I only had the one bike left so it was important to bring it home without any further problems. It's been fantastic working with the team once again and I'd like to thank them for the opportunity which has hopefully helped them progress and achieve some better results for the remainder of the year."
Paul Risbridger, Team Manager: "We intended this weekend to be an opportunity to test and confirm many of the recent changes to the bike and the three-race format gave us a great opportunity to try a number of new settings. We expected tough competition and knew we would need to be at the top of our game to get a result but we have to be encouraged by the way the Kawasaki performed around a very technical circuit. Overall, we've made excellent progress and great to be on the rostrum against a number of factory teams."
Paul Bird, Team Owner: ''I think it's been a successful weekend and Broc proved just how competitive our bikes can be and I'm pleased with a hat trick of second places. It's also helped our development and we can now hit the ground running for the remainder of the season. You can't fault Sheridan for his enthusiasm and the couple of big crashes he had is just one of those things. It set him back a little but he bounced back in typical fashion to record a couple of better results on Sunday. It's been a great weekend for our team and I'd like to thank Jonathan Palmer and Stuart Higgs for the opportunity to demonstrate the Kawasaki's potential in the competitive arena of British Superbikes. We came along to add a bit of variety to the show and hopefully we did that so we'd like to be classed as 'The Entertainers' this weekend as I think we did just that!"
Results Race 1 (Saturday)
Broc Parkes 2nd
Sheridan Morais DNF
1, Leon Camier (Yamaha)
2, Broc Parkes (PBM Kawasaki)
3, Stuart Easton (Honda)
4, Karl Muggeridge (Honda)
5, Tommy Hill (Suzuki)
6, James Ellison (Yamaha)
7, John Laverty (Kawasaki)
8, Karl Harris (Honda)
9, Chris Walker (Yamaha)
10, Julien Da Costa (Kawasaki)
Results Race 2
Broc Parkes 2nd
Sheridan Morais 10th
1, Leon Camier (Yamaha)
2, Broc Parkes (PBM Kawasaki)
3, Stuart Easton (Honda)
4, Tommy Hill (Suzuki)
5, James Ellison (Yamaha)
6, Karl Harris (Honda)
7, Karl Muggeridge (Honda)
8, Steve Brogan (Honda)
9, Graeme Gowland (Yamaha)
10, Sheridan Morais (PBM Kawasaki)
Results Race 3
Broc Parkes 2nd
Sheridan Morais 8th
1, Leon Camier (Yamaha)
2, Broc Parkes (PBM Kawasaki)
3, James Ellison (Yamaha)
4, Stuart Easton (Honda)
5, John Laverty (Kawasaki)
6, Karl Muggeridge (Honda)
7, Tommy Hill (Suzuki)
8, Sheridan Morais (PBM Kawasaki)
9, Ian Lowry (Suzuki)
10, Michael Rutter (Kawasaki)