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44 George Street, Perth

KRP BACK TO WINNING WAYS

KRP''s Scottish teenager Robbie Stewart showed talent and maturity in winning the fifth round of the British 125GP Championship at Snetterton in Norfolk.

The Perth rider saw off challenges from championship leader Luke Jones, fellow Scot Kev Coghlan and former champion Mick Wilcox and dealt expertly with backmarkers in the final stages to win the race by 1.1 secs from veteran Wilcox.

It was a well-deserved first win of the year for Team KRP but it was another weekend of mixed fortunes for the Buckinghamshire-based outfit. Anthony Rogers crashed out on the first lap at his home round, Nikki Coates' gearbox failed and Tom Hayward had to fight through the field to finish fifth after chatter problems in qualifying left him despondent and 20th on the grid.

"It was definitely yet another weekend of highs and lows," said team boss Mark Keen. "It was Robbie's first BSB win in the dry and we are all delighted but Anthony was distraught after his fourth consecutive non-finish, Nikki rode well and was unlucky and Tom was so down after morning warm-up we had to talk him into racing at all."

Stewart made a flying start but was tentative through the first few corners and Ashley Beech and Luke Mossey made the early running. Then, caught out by tyres still cold on the left side, Rogers lowsided at Russells at the end of the first lap and was forced to retire.

Coates was also quick off the line and the Irishman was in contention at the front of the race in the early laps but a jumped start penalty was to drop him down the order. Meanwhile, Hayward spent the first half of the race battling through the backfield.

As the race progressed, Stewart gained in confidence and he was leading a four-way scrap for second place when Beech retired at half distance. For the remaining eight laps Stewart held off the determined efforts of Wilcox, Jones and Coghlan and eventually won the race by a comfortable margin.

"I could see he was a bit nervous in some places," said Keen. "But he was very strong at other parts of the track, used the backmarkers very well and didn't concede when he was shown a wheel. It was a good performance and if we can help him get more confident in the front end of the bike we should see him build on this result and really fly."

Despite his ride-through penalty, Coates was on course for a top ten finish when gearbox bearing failure ended his race with three laps remaining. Keen said: "It's conceivable he could have finished as high as seventh and if it wasn't for the jump start penalty, which on the evidence of the Sky TV pictures seems rather harsh, his times were good enough for him to have been in the mix for the win."

As well as suffering from injuries, Tom Hayward has struggled with front end chatter problems for most of the season and almost every part of his bike has been swapped in an attempt to eradicate it. All seemed well in first practice session at Snetterton but the chatter returned on Friday afternoon and after morning warm up on race day a cure had still not been found.

"Finally I tried a different brake compound on the basis perhaps Tom is somehow glazing the pads and it seemed to work for the race," said Keen. "But we've thought we've solved it before and it has returned so I'm not yet totally convinced it's the answer. It's frustrating because, like Nikki, Tom's times were good enough for him to have been running at the front if he'd started from a better position on the grid."

"As for Anthony, the most important thing for him now is to get a result. He's a passionate young man but next time out I'll be telling him to keep it steady, get a finish and build back into it."

The BSB series now takes a four week summer break, returning to action at Mondello Park in Ireland on June 17, but team KRP's next meeting is the Spanish Championship round at the Circuit of Catalunya near Barcelona on May 27.

"We'll get plenty of track time over there so as well as preparing to give a good account of ourselves in the race, hopefully we can use it to get Robbie and Nikki really confident and ready to win more races when we get back to the British Championships," concluded Keen.

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