New bike hampers Beech

Photo: Anthony Miller

Ashley Beech

ASHLEY Beech narrowly missed out on a points-scoring finish in round three of the National Superstock Championship at Brands Hatch.

In the first of three visits to the Kent track this season, the Moorside rider again struggled to come to terms with his new Kawasaki ZX-10R.

Development work on the bike is ongoing, with progress continuing round-by-round.

The bike has more power than last year, but this has increased the effect on braking and suspension.

Practice went well and despite not pushing the bike to its limits, Beech was setting good lap times.

After a few changes to the suspension by the JD Racing Team, Beech improved his times during first qualifying.

More minor alterations were made and again lap times improved, and he climbed from 18th up to 11th on the grid, less than a second behind the pole position rider.

FIGHTING

The race was only a handful of laps old when Beech felt that the bike was not pulling properly, and despite fighting hard for 30 laps the bike was not performing as expected. He crossed the line in 17th place, one position outside of the points.

After the race the team's technicians ran diagnostics on the bike and found that only half the amount of fuel was being used on each lap, although Beech reported no noticeable drop in power.

Beech is back in action at Donington Park this weekend, competing in a support race of the British round of the World Superbike Championship.

Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton insists the chapter is now closed on his jaw-dropping collision with Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Speaking ahead of Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix, Hamilton, who trails Rosberg by 43 points said: "It was a tough moment for all of us after the race, but it's now chapter closed."