CHALLENGING WEEKEND FOR BUILDBASE BMW AT SNETTERTON
It was a difficult weekend for the Buildbase BMW Motorrad team in the fourth round of the 2015 MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship. Both Ryuichi Kiyonari and Lee Jackson were left disappointed with their results after a challenging day at the Snetterton 300 circuit.
After being caught out by the weather in qualifying, Kiyonari started the first race from 18th on the grid. Unfortunately he was unable to progress through the pack due to a technical problem, but continued with the race to finish 19th.
Starting 23rd on the grid for race two, it was never going to be easy for the three-time British champ, but a good start saw him in the mix in the early stages. Feeling good, he was keen to make his way through the field but a mistake on the first lap saw him run on at the end of the straight. Pushing on, he unfortunately crashed out of contention on the third lap.
After his best qualifying of the season, Lee Jackson got a strong start in race one moving up to ninth position before crashing out shortly after. His team worked hard to get the bike re-built for race two, but a small issue saw him wheeled off the grid. With the issue fixed, Jackson started from the back and made his way through to a respectable 19th place.
Ryuichi Kiyonari, DNF & 19th: “It was a good weekend until qualifying! In race one we were held back by a small problem which meant we didn’t get a very good grid position for race two. In the second race the machine was feeling very good but I made a mistake and ran on at the straight. Then I crashed, which wasn’t great! It’s a shame as the bike was feeling very good. I’m disappointed as every round I say ‘Ok this one can be better’ but then it’s not! Hopefully we can improve at Knockhill as I have nice memories of there from last year.”
Lee Jackson, DNF & 19th: “I’m really sorry to the team for the crash this morning as we could have had a solid result. I made a small mistake but the bike was destroyed so the boys worked really hard to get it ready for race two but unfortunately we had a slight technical problem. I got into a good rhythm but I couldn’t push the bike how I wanted to and we couldn’t finish in the points which I’m really disappointed with. It’s been a tough day but hopefully we can bounce back at Knockhill.”
Steve Hicken, Team Manager: “It was another one of those weekends! Both riders had great pace here but in the end it just didn’t come together on race day. I’m sure our luck will change eventually! We’ll get stuck in and see what we can do at Knockhill now!”
The Buildbase BMW Motorrad team will be back in action in Round 5 of the 2015 MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Knockhill between 3-5 July. Copyright free images for editorial use only below - please credit Double Red Photographics. 
