Disappointment of Phillip Island evident following a difficult weekend.
Image: Foremost Media.
Former champion Bryan Staring maintains he still believes in the Dunlop and Kawasaki BCperformance combination after coming off a frustrating weekend at Phillip Island for round six of the 2019 Motul Pirelli Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK).
Staring has faced a number of challenges being the only top contender on Dunlop tyres as the majority of the field utilises Pirelli’s offering, however, the Western Australian has declared that the Dunlop tyre didn’t play a role in his mixed results at the Island.
In his second season with the officially-supported Kawasaki squad and on Dunlop tyres, Staring – who dominated round three at The Bend with three commanding race wins – is still confident in the package on offer.
“I feel sorry for Dunlop because I’m the only one out there, so if I have a bad weekend, it seems they’re the ones to blame [by everyone],” Staring explained to CycleOnline.com.au. “To answer your question, I am frustrated – but there’s always a reason for the frustration.
“This particular weekend, there’s more so been some mysteries as to why we haven’t been competitive, and we still need to get to the bottom of them. I still really believe in the project I’m involved with, and the people around me are working really hard and are doing a really good job.
“The problem I have is that we don’t have any other support from riders – we can’t move forward quick enough because there aren’t enough people on this product going around the circuit. I’m frustrated, but not with anyone and anything in particular, it’s more through the circumstances and this weekend was a mystery. We weren’t competitive, and ultimately, our championship ends here.”
Kawasaki BCperformance team owner Kelvin Reilly reiterated Staring’s belief in the package, expressing his own confidence in the product that Dunlop has delivered.
“Everyone is probably pointing the finger at Dunlop, but we can’t blame Dunlop for this weekend at all,” Reilly commented. “There were a lot of different variables of why we’ve had a few strange results this weekend – nothing is to the team, nothing is to the tyre – it was just one of those things.
“Dunlop as a package, the Dunlop tyre is a good tyre that has come a very long way since we started working with them. They’ve put in such a massive effort to give us the product we need to go fast. There’s no issue with the Dunlop product as such, but obviously, we’ve got work to do. There 26 riders out there all on Pirelli – there are 26 riders giving Pirelli data.
“This weekend we basically had one rider giving Dunlop data, so you can obviously work out what that means. I still believe in it as Bryan said – the tyre is good, the team is good, and Bryan’s riding is unquestionable and it’s up there with the best riders in the field.”
Staring recorded an 8-DNF scorecard at Phillip Island after suffering a heavy crash in the second encounter, currently sitting sixth in the championship standings.
Source: CycleOnline.com.au