Beverley’s James Westmoreland competed in round five of the British Superbike Championship (BSB) at Snetterton in Norfolk on board the Gearlink Kawasaki ZX-10R.
Westmoreland started from seventeenth place on the grid after setting a qualification time of 1min 48.7secs.
As sixteen laps of race one got underway he immediately made up a place on a slow starting Sylvain Guintoli (Bennetts Suzuki) but not to be out done Guintoli regained the place on lap two.
Lap two saw Taylor Mackenzie (Bennetts Suzuki) and Luke Mossey (JG Speedfit Kawasaki) retire moving ‘Westy’ up the order by one place as Mackenzie was down the order followed by one more on lap three as Jakub Smrz (PR Racing BMW) also retired.
Now running in fifteenth place he was pushing hard and gained another place to fourteenth as James Ellison (McAMS Yamaha) retired from the lead with technical issues.
A hard pushing Lee Jackson (Smiths Racing BMW) was catching ‘Westy’ and passed him on lap eight.
Tommy Bridewell (Team WD40 Kawasaki) managed to make a pass on lap ten relegating him to sixteenth place where he remained until the chequered flag.
Race two again over sixteen laps saw Westmoreland line up in twentieth based on his fastest lap in race one. As the lights went green he had a slow start and was running last as Shaun Winfield (Anvil Hire TAG Racing Yamaha), Andy Reid (Tyco BMW) and Aaron Zanotti (Platform Hire Yamaha) passed him.
Over the next couple of laps he pushed hard regaining twenty first as he passed Zanotti then Winfield for twentieth. Lap six saw Josh Elliott (Tyco BMW) retire to move him up the order again to nineteenth.
Pushing his tyres hard ‘Westy’ took eighteenth from Reid on lap seven where he remained until lap ten, when with the demise of Ellison again moved him up to seventeenth where he remained until the end of the race.
Westmoreland will be in action again on 21st-23rd July around the Brands Hatch GP circuit in Kent.
Report & Picture By David Holland
