Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) took part in two WorldSBK races on Sunday 13 July at Donington Park and secured his best single race result and overall best weekend performance in what is his debut season riding the Ninja ZX-10RR.
Having finished Saturday’s Opening 23-lap Race in eighth place, Garrett would enter the ten-lap Superpole Race on Sunday full of confidence.
In finishing eighth again he would score championship points for the first time in a ‘sprint’ race this season, which awards points in a different way from a full WorldSBK race. Points are only issued down to the rider in ninth place – not 15th place like the full distance races.
Gerloff’s confidence in his ever-improving machine set-up paid an even greater dividend in Race Two, on Sunday afternoon, as the American rider had his best individual race result of the year. He was sixth after 23 laps of the 4.023km circuit and scored ten championship points as a result.
In a very tight midfield battle in the championship rankings after seven rounds, Garrett is 16th overall, with 60 points – 20 of which were earned at the Donington Park round alone.
Now that the Donington Race Weekend has been completed, the Balaton Park circuit in Hungary will host its first WorldSBK weekend, between 25-27 July.
Garrett Gerloff
“I feel like today we made a big step with the bike, mainly in the electronics. It is just nice to feel that everything is coming naturally. In general it was a good day. I had two good starts and two good first laps, so I put myself in a decent spot and didn’t lose positions. I am pretty happy. Every time I ride the bike I have a clearer idea of what can be changed to make it better. But that takes time so I just need more time riding the bike to figure that stuff out. Everything is pointing in the same direction and we are all on the same page about set-up stuff. There is definitely more room for us to grow. I think if we can make some changes we can make an even bigger step in the right direction.”
