Lanes Kawasaki follows up with a Hawkstone top five‏

Freshly returned from battle in Italy, Lanes
Kawasaki found itself fighting for top honours at home on one of
Britain's most venerable tracks, Hawkstone Park. Although overcast early
in the morning, the weather changed to balmy sunshine throughout the
day with record crowds coming to watch the annual Hawkstone
International race.





Qualifying in the morning saw the team's MX1 star rider Marc de
Reuver pull a seventh place out of the bag, while the team's MX2 rider,
Sunny Thompson, qualified in thirty-fourth.

At race time,
Thompson found himself solidly in the middle of the pack. An early spurt
from a mid-pack start put him in contention for a top twenty position,
but a late battle with rivals Erki Kahro and Nathan Watson dropped him
to twenty-second place. The second race saw him get off to a good start
again, but a crash early on left him with an uphill battle in the latter
half, returning to twentieth with the two-lap board out.





De Reuver on the other hand had a battle of a different kind on his
hands. A veteran of this track, De Reuver suffered from arm pump for
much of the race, making it difficult and dangerous to go all out. A
start from outside the top ten turned into a well-executed and safe
sixth place in the first race. The second race saw a much improved start
in sixth, which developed into an interesting cat-and-mouse game with
fellow Kawasaki rider Martin Barr, culminating in De Reuver taking fifth
place for a sixth overall on the day.





The super final, a combined race of the top fifteen of each class,
saw De Reuver charge hard all throughout the race, arm pump finally no
longer an issue, ending the race in fourth place.

Team principal
Dean Lane declared himself satisfied with the day's proceedings: "The
day went pretty well according to plan. Sunny in the MX2 struggled a bit
fitness-wise, but with another few weeks under his belt he'll be ready
for Fat Cats. Marc rode really well; he suffered from arm pump in the
first two rides and came through well. The super final I'm really
pleased with. Roll on Fat Cats, we'll try to go up there to do a bit of
practicing mid-week. Sunny's been up there through the winter so he
knows the track, now we just need to get Marc up there to get him to do
the business."





Sunny Thompson (#177): "Today was not bad; all in all a good day,
really. I had a really good start in the first race, and that was about
it. I got a bit tired towards the end, so I'm working on my fitness this
week and next to be ready for Fat Cats for the first round of the
British."





Marc de Reuver (#212): "Qualifying was really not exciting; I had
some incredible arm pump. Hawkstone Park is arm pump city for me. The
first race I was riding tight and struggling, but still got a sixth. The
second heat was really good; I came up to the front but my roll-offs
broke in the fourth lap, I didn't want to ditch the goggles, so I had to
pick my lines very well. So fifth was still ok. The super final I was
pleased with. I was fourth, I saw Desalle and the 10 minute clock in the
corner of my eye and we were on the same pace. After that he was fast,
of course, but it gave me a really nice feeling. I'm very happy!"