Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/665065
IN THE WIND P30 SRC TAKE LE MANS T he SRC Kawasaki outfit of Grégory Leblanc, Mathieu Lagrive and Fabien Foret took the win in the Le Mans 24 Hours in France, April 9-10, in mostly cold and wet conditions, top- ping the Team April Moto Motors Events Suzuki GSX-R1000 team and the F.C.C. TSR Honda outfit. "The race was really excep- tional and difficult," said Gilles Stafler, director of Team Kawa- saki SRC. "We had all condi- tions—rain, a drying track, cold night. The race was not easy for us. We fared bet- ter than others, and when we had dry track conditions, we were able to apply the race instructions." The win marked Kawasaki's 13th at Le Mans, making them the most successful manufacturer in the history of the race. Reigning champi- ons Suzuki Endurance Racing Team finished in fourth, 17 laps behind SRC with Team 3ART Yam'Avenue taking the Super- stock victory from AM Moto Racing Competition. CN HICKMAN AND LAVERTY SHARE BSB SPOILS T he 2016 British Superbike Champion- ship kicked off in inclement weather with the opening round at Silverstone where Tyco BMW's Michael Laverty and JG Speedfit Kawa- saki's Peter Hickman took the wins. Laverty held off 2015 title runner-up Shane Byrne in his first ride back with Ducati by 0.5 seconds in race one with Tyco teammate Chris- tian Iddon making it two BMW S 1000 RRs on the podium in third. "It is difficult to just run out front and look at your lap timer," Laverty said. "I only looked at my pit board once as I just wanted to concentrate on being as smooth as I could and not making any mistakes. The toughest thing was midrace as my hands went a bit numb, perhaps as it was a bit cold out there!" The race weekend started well but ended badly for America's James Rispoli in his debut in the Superbike ranks when he qualified a sensational eighth position before crashing out and injuring a finger, forcing him out of race two. In race two it was wet weather specialist Peter Hickman who took a close-fought win over Byrne with Iddon again in third. Race one winner Laverty ended up sixth. In his first race meeting riding for former rival Tommy Hill, John Hopkins took ninth in race one but didn't finish race two. Byrne leads the championship on 40 points from Laverty (35) and Iddon (32). Shane Byrne (right) just missed out on the win when Peter Hickman (left) clinched it at the death. SRC's win marked Kawasaki's 13th at Le Mans.