Solid Start for Kennedy

After qualifying in a superb 5th position, the Rivamoto team were optimistic that Irishman Jack Kennedy could take the fight to the front runners in the opening round of the World Supersport Championship in Phillip Island, Australia.

Initially moving up to 4th things looked good for the 2012 British Supersport runner up until Jack started to suffer blisters with his Pirelli tyres. The race had already been reduced to tyre wear concerns and this added to a small technical problem meant that he was lucky to finish at all.

All things considered it was a successful weekend for Jack and the whole Rivamoto team and a number of people in the paddock are now asking who is the ‘new kid on the block’ .

Rivamoto’s other rider Edik Blokhin finished in position 23rd overall.

Jeremy McWilliams (Team Manager) - ‘We had a tyre issue this morning in the warm-up, our first problem all week, and then again from mid race distance, we weren't the only ones with severe blistering but it hampered Jack's progress from mid race on. During the last couple of laps he lost a wheel sensor that caused the bike to cut so he was lucky to finish at all but he is a bit disappointed not to score a top 6 as he had the speed all week. Still we came away lots of positives, points and no crashes over the test and weekend so we are lucky compared to some others.’

Jack Kennedy (10th) – ‘Happy to get a top 10 finish at my first WSS race but a little frustrated to slip back out of the lead group when my tyre went away. I had a good battle trying to hang on to the 8th place but then the sensor went and that just made it too difficult. All in all we had a great weekend and I'm happy with the progress me and the team have made so far, really looking forward to the tests in March and the race in Aragon.’