The racing season has kicked off in great style with all the WIL Sport riders finishing in the points at World Superbikes in Aragon, Spain last weekend.
WIL Sport is an organisation based in West Auckland, New Zealand that seeks to foster young talent and provide pathways for them on to the International sporting stage.
So it was very exciting for us to see Oratia rider, Connor London come home 11th in the European Junior Cup riding a CBR500 scoring 5 Championship points and setting his fastest times at the circuit. In fact his race time was faster than the winning time last year. This years race was 12 seconds faster than last year, helped obviously by having slightly fewer riders on track. Such is the skill and speed of these young riders aged only 14-19 years of age they continue to push each other hard which saw a few crash along the way. But it is all about rider ability and how fast they are prepared to push the bike as every rider is riding the same model CBR 500 which makes for some of the most exciting racing at the event.
Another rider to score points was last years EJC winner from Rangiora, Jake Lewis. This year riding his prize – a CBR 600 for the Agro On WIL Racedays Honda team. And in an exciting race Jake brought his bike home in 11th position.
Jake impressed every session he was out on the bike and was just beaten for a top 10 position by his own team mate – Italian, Kevin Manfredi. But with over 30 riders in the field this was an impressive start to his Super Stock 600 career at the International level and we anticipate even greater success this season.
New International riders to the WIL Sport team are Englishman, Kyle Smith who secured a podium 3rd place finish in the Super Stock 1000 class riding the Honda CBR1000R Fireblade. A fearless rider with a Moto 2 background Kyle is another to watch.
In the EJC, WIL Sport wildcard rider Jianwen Zhu, is an emerging talent from China who experienced his first international race and came away with one championship point which was very exciting for him and his family.
And also supported by WIL Sport this year is Spanish rider Augusto Fernandez who was runner up in the Championship last year and was narrowly beaten into 4th place on this occasion. Another talented rider to watch in 2014.
Everyone is now readying for the next round in Assen, Netherlands on the 25-27th April followed by Imola. Italy, Donnington, UK in May and back to Misano, Italy at the end of June.
And not forgetting over Italy we have Avalon Biddle racing in the Moto3 competition. The first round last weekend didn’t go to plan however with mechanical difficulties meaning she never made it on to the grid. However with plenty of testing going on over the next few weeks Av anticipates being all set to go later in May for round 2.
To learn about our riders and their full race reports and all the other WIL Sport athletes and our sponsors please visit our new website below at www.wilsport.co.nz
