Motourage

The MSS Colchester Kawasaki Team prepare for the Mallory Park round of the British Superbike Championship as Simon Andrews returns from a prolonged heel injury to join Gary Mason with track temperatures set to soar.

Last year’s event saw Simon lead the race, only to be taken out in the closing stages in a mass pile-up, leaving rider and squad wondering what might have been. The accident left Simon with a broken wrist and put him out of the running for the Brands Hatch triple-header a few weeks later.

Simon will be looking to continue his return to fitness and form after two strong rides in last week’s Superstock support race at the Silverstone MotoGP, where he stood in for an injured Conor Cummins in the Blackhorse Kawasaki squad.

Gary Mason is another rider with points to prove after a Cadwell Park BSB round to forget. Gary showed his strongest qualifying performance yet, running as high as second in the phased knockout system before disaster struck with a big crash, leaving him concussed and unable to race.

The tight and tricky Mallory Park circuit suits the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R, as shown by last year’s front running pace of Simon, while the team will also be buoyed by early previews of next season’s race-focused Ninja machine. Howie Mainwaring gets a deserved week off as Superstock skip a round after the Superstock double header, where Howie led much of the first race action, chalking up a podium and the circuit’s first lap record.

“I feel like I’ve been away forever,” said Simon Andrews. “It was ideal to get out on the superstocker at Silverstone, and this showed me where I was fitness wise and got me up to speed with riding fast. I got a good look at Brookes riding whilst I was there and he’s very much the man to beat at BSB at this moment. I have bitter-sweet memories of Mallory as I know me and the bike worked well there last year before that horrendous incident.”

Mason added, “Cadwell was a shocker for me; one moment on top of it and qualifying great; the next sparko and having to miss the races. I saw how well Gary and the ZX-10R went last year at Mallory so I can see no reason why we shouldn’t have a good outing.”

MSS Colchester Kawasaki team boss Nick Morgan added, “It’s great to have both the lads back and fully fit, we’ve had good stand in rides by Howie and Chris Walker who’ve both played a part for us but Simon and Gary were our chosen riders at year start. With no Superstock we can focus on the BSB riders and we know from last year that we can run at the front here. As England expects on Sunday so does Kawasaki.”