Profile Racing steal the show at Donington Park

Profile Racing steal the show at Donington Park 

Below is the full report from Profile Racing

Profile Racing make strong progress at their home round of the wsbk championship! Round 6 of the World Supersport Championship saw the bikes take to the track at a rather sunny Donington Park. Luke Stapleford would be accompanied by stand in teammate Jack Kennedy who is filling in for the absent Stefan Hill. Stefan underwent surgery for a wrist injury suffered during a training session last week and both he and the team are hopeful for a swift return to action next time out in Misano, Italy. 

Both riders entered their home round with a positive approach having both finished in the points at their previous outing, Stapleford especially looking to impress in front of the British Fans. The all important Free practice sessions did not lack in action with both Luke and Jack setting a fierce pace from the start and battling well inside the top 10 to assure their automatic feed into Q2 qualifying session the following day. With the sun shining down on a packed out Donington Park Kennedy completed the top 10 with Stapleford just missing out by just a tenth of a second and unfortunately missing out on the 10 Q2 slots. 

The sun was delayed on Saturday as we got underway with some heavy clouds and showers, with no more rain forecast for the remainder of the day Stapleford sat the short 15 minutes session out to focus on the Q1 qualifying session which was only 2 hours away. Kennedy however took to the track for the first time in the wet aboard the 675R machine, and rapidly adapted to the conditions finishing up in an impressive 5th position on the times sheets. 

World SuperSport 2017 4 May 2017

Qualifying was set up to be a scorcher with the sun coming out and drying up the tarmac, Luke set out for the Q1 session aiming to progress and overall better his time and set up. Immediately he set the mark for the rest of the field to chase, setting his best time of the weekend at a 1.31.579 and best of the session by over 3 tenths. Advancing into Q2 meant the two Profile Racing Triumphs would both appear in the SuperPole shootout for the first time in 2017. Both riders again making their way out onto track aiming to please the home crowd. Only minutes left on the clock both riders entered pit lane for their last pit stop and tyre change, the SC0 compounds go in and both bikes are away again. Kennedy and Stapleford battling all the way to line with Jack just in front on the timing sheets, upon till Stapleford puts in another personally best of 1.31.559 snatching 4th position from JK by just 4 thousandths of a second. The Triumph machines lined up in P4 and P5, best qualifying of the year for both riders and team. 

Throughout the weekend Luke Stapleford had been tackling a small chassis issue which has plagued him over the past few rounds, which is still preventing him from being 100% comfortable. The team was working closely with Bitubo Suspension Technicians trying to solve the reoccurring problem, with only small improvements made Luke took to the track on race day, confident the small changes made will make the difference. 

Kennedy and Stapleford made their way to the grid lining up on the second row with clear track in front of them, both riders opting to run the softer of the rear tyre compounds as the track temperature was still rising. The race got underway and Luke made an aggressive start from P4 getting the hole shot and beating Sofuoglu into turn 1, with Jack closely behind in P4. The race pace was incredibly fast from the get go with both Luke and Jack making the break with the front group. Whilst the front group edged away from the chasing field drama unfolded as a track contamination of oil caused the red flags to come out and all riders would return to the pits whilst a track inspection took place.

The Triumph machines were again prepped by the team, the riders recomposed and focused to go simulate their previous starts. With a 10 minute delay both bikes were gifted with new rear tyres and the race was reduced to just 13 Laps. 

The Profile machines once again took their grid positions up on row 2 aiming to match their starts from previous, the lights come on, the revs were up and they were off. Stapleford again advancing to the front of the field but just missing out on the hole shot tucking in nicely behind race leader

World SuperSport 2017 4 May 2017

Kenan Sofuoglu with Kennedy in close pursuit in P4. The race unfolded again very similarly as the front 5 broke away with Jack and Luke well inside that battle. 

Sofuoglu began to slowly stretch out a demanding 2 second lead over Mahias and Cluzel to which he would manage excellently for the rest of the race. Both Profile machines attempting to chase down the last two podium positions, picking up the pace in the last 5 laps. Kennedy closed down the small gap on Stapleford and attacked with 2 laps remaining, determined to be top Brit and first Triumph home Luke didn't wait too long before battling back past Kennedy and edging the Irishman out of P4. JK rode hard to the finish line but Stapleford managed to fend off the flying teammate and both Profile Racing Machines finished up in a seasons best of P4 and P5 replicated their qualifying positions. 

Profile Racing Team would like to thank Jack Kennedy for his strong efforts and contributions over the last two rounds in the World SuperSport series, the team and close sponsors very much enjoyed the experience and wish him all the best for his campaign within the British Supersport Championship aboard the Mv 675 machine. 

Luke Stapleford  “What a weekend, the team have worked really hard since the start of the season and to finally get both bikes finishing inside the top 5 is a credit to them all. We still have some issues which are stopping me being 100% comfortable but we are working continuously to find a fix. Its been awesome having Jack around keeping me on my toes and all credit to him as he's done an excellent job having only ridden the bike twice, it really shows that we have a strong base to work from after the difficult start to the season. I'd like to thank everyone who came over the weekend to show there support and we'll try to carry this momentum over to Misano now as we try to move inside the top 10 in the championship.” Jack Kennedy Great race weekend at the UK round on the Profile Triumph.  We achieved what we set out to do, aiming for the top ten on Friday to progress straight into SP2 and also focused on long runs.  Myself and Luke pushed each other every session and Superpole went well with both of us qualifying on the second row.  We had a great dice for the entire race and enjoyed it as it was a good clean, hard battle to the flag.  I really enjoyed working with Profile Racing, they are a  great team, I'm grateful to the lads for all their hard work and and I'd like to thank Pete for the opportunity.

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