'The weather conspired against us!' Weekend to forget for G&S

The weather played a huge part in the weekend’s proceedings as there was rain, sleet, hail, snow and high winds plus sub zero temperatures at night.

Having been unable to take part in the official test last week, Tom Fisher and Kevin Van Leuven were already at a disadvantage and then when the weather interrupted the qualifying they struggled to get a fast lap in which reflected in their grid positions for Monday’s 15 lap race.

But they persevered and took their place on the starting grid in damp conditions, Tom on row eight and Kevin on row 11.

Both riders decided to go out on full wets which turned out to be the wrong choice.

As the race unfolded Tom dropped back to 24th as his tyre began to disintegrate and he retired at the end of lap nine.

Kevin struggled on for another two laps before he too decided it was better to retire than fall if the tyre let go.

Team manager Mark Fisher commented: “I think the weather conspired against us this weekend.

“With a wet track for the start of the race and more black clouds looming on the horizon we, along with many others, opted for full wets but the rain never returned and the track dried quicker than expected.

“When the tyres deteriorated the best course of action was to retire as there was no point continuing and then crashing and causing more problems.

“The way to go was on slick tyres as was proved by Keith Farmer who shot away and led the race from start to finish.

“But we have a new Kawasaki this year and this is the first time we have ridden in these conditions and struggled to find the correct set up for this sort of weather.

“But on the plus side my two riders stayed on board their machines when others were falling like ninepins.

“It’s been a disaster from start to finish this weekend and I have to thank all our supporters and sponsors who braved the conditions to come and watch us.”

The next round is at Brands Hatch on May 22.