The sixth round of the British Supersport Championship took place at Brands Hatch Circuit over the weekend of 20th and 21st July and drew in a large crowd to the famous 2.433-mile Grand Prix circuit.
Rhys Irwin secured ninth place in his opening race of the weekend for Gearlink Kawasaki which he followed up with a tenth place in the longer feature race on Sunday. His team-mate Cameron Dawson had a challenging weekend at Brands Hatch. He finished nineteenth and eighteenth in his races.
The opening free practice sessions for the Gearlink Kawasaki riders took place on Friday in scorching conditions Irwin ended the day with the tenth quickest time, 1:29.862s, while Dawson who struggled in the afternoon warmer conditions finished seventeenth, 1:30.574s.
It was a mixed fifteen-minute qualifying session on Saturday for both riders, Irwin qualified in eighth while Dawson struggled throughout the session and qualified nineteenth.
Gearlink Kawazaki qualifying for round 6 of the Quattro Group British Supersport at Brands Hatch Circuit. (Image: Michael Wincott)
Both riders made good starts in their opening 10-lap race of the weekend. Irwin made some good passes throughout the race and finished in a healthy 9th position, just 0.896s behind T J Toms in eighth. Throughout the short sprint race, Dawson was involved in a four-way battle for eighteenth. The quadruplet swapped positions multiple times before Dawson crossed the line in nineteenth at the finish.
The grid for Sundays feature race was determined by the rider's fastest lap in the sprint race. Irwin started the 16-lap race from eighth while Dawson started from twenty-second.
Irwin initially made a good start and held on to his starting position during the opening laps of the race before being passed by Carter Brown. During the later parts of the race Irwin was involved in a three-way fight for tenth which he held to the line. Dawson was challenging for points again during the longer race but was forced to settle for eighteenth just 0.191s behind Lee Johnston.
After experiencing a small problem with the bike throughout the weekend which the team had tried to fix. Irwin commented after the 16-lap feature race "We experienced the problem again today with the bike, we’ve narrowed it down a little and it did improve slightly but it still acted as a huge barrier, particularly in the races. It’s definitely not an easy fix though and the team have thrown everything at it this weekend to try and get it sorted so a huge thank you to them I’m sure we’ll be back stronger soon!".
Before arriving at Round Six Dawson had made a target of getting into the points. After coming close to scoring points during the weekend Dawson commented "Few struggles this weekend but I’ve learned a lot about the bike and we’re always making steps. My aim was to get points this weekend and so I’m a little annoyed that I missed out on them again today but it’s coming".
The seventh round of the Supersport Championship will take place at the ultra-fast Thruxton Circuit just over the Hampshire border over the weekend of 10th and 11th August, all the teams and riders will be looking for points at their home round.
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