Easton keen to build on Oulton success

PBM Kawasaki rider Stuart Easton says he needs to build on his progress from last weekend at Oulton Park, where he took his first MCE British Superbike race win in five years.

“I saw him go to make his move on Shakey and I thought he was just going to run on which would have made it a PBM one-two but it wasn’t to be last weekend. I had to ride really defensively on the final lap, but the pace was still good and I think that’s what I was most happy about.”

However, Easton, who has bee building strongly from the end of 2014, says that he knew going into the weekend that it was going to be a strong event for him at the Cheshire circuit.

“The test was good for me the week before the event and I think that put us in an even better position going into the race weekend. I was hoping after that we could be competitive at the sharp end and for qualifying I was definitely aiming to be on the first two rows, so to get P3 was perfect. Then when I came back in I was a bit disappointed as it was so close to pole!

“My expectations went up ready for raceday after that but the first race was a tough one. I made a mistake on the opening lap and had a bit of a slide on the exit after the first turn and then before I knew it I had Shakey and Josh Brookes on either side of me. That shuffled me back to fourth, although that’s where I ended up staying, but the pace was pretty fast and under the lap record so I just felt happy to have been able to run that and be competitive, especially as I was on the back of Shakey for the whole race.

“Race two was when we got to have the champagne and that was my target after race one. I had been running third for most of it and I felt stronger as the race went on. I put a move on Shakey and then he got me back, them he got Kiyo. Kiyo was stronger I different areas of the track and he is such a good rider that he is hard to pass. It was frustrating at the time but in hindsight it was a good thing as otherwise it could have been me that got taken out!”