Donegal motorcyclist Richard Kerr and the AMD Motorsport team headed to Laguna Seca, California at the weekend for round four of the MotoAmerica Superstock 1000 Championship and two-points scoring finishes meant he maintained sixth place in the title standings.
And there was further good news for the Kilmacrennan rider with the announcement he’ll ride the Cheshire Mouldings BMW for TAS Racing, deputising for the injured Rory Skinner, at round six of the British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch this weekend.
Having opened in 1957, Laguna Sece held rounds of the MotoGP World Championship and World Superbike Championship at various times between 1988 and 2019 with its most famous corner ‘the Corkscrew, seen as one of the most challenging turns in motorsport due to a drop in elevation of some 59ft (18m) as well as its blind crest and apex on the uphill approach.
That meant it was going to be, potentially, the most difficult circuit for Richard to learn on the American calendar with the opening practice session seeing him post the tenth quickest time. The two subsequent qualifying sessions saw him reduce his best lap time by almost a second and that enabled him to take 11th place and line up in the middle of the fourth row.
Saturday’s race was held over 14 laps of the 2.238-mile circuit and a solid start enabled Richard to complete the opening lap in 12th place and by lap three he’d worked his way up to ninth. Lapping quicker than what he had done in qualifying, it would prove to be a relatively lonely ride for Richard, but he duly took the chequered flag in ninth place.
Sunday’s race was again held over 14 laps with good conditions once more at the Californian venue and although he again lapped quicker than before, setting a fastest lap of 1’26.975, he had to settle for 11th place on this occasion. However, he was only six seconds adrift of seventh and the results from the two races moved him on to 71 points to maintain sixth place overall in the championship standings.
In addition to the Superstock 1000 races, Richard also contested the two Superbike races where he finished 15th on each occasion to score more points in America’s premier series. Having contested four of the six rounds to take place so far, the 24-year old now sits in fifth place overall in the Superbike Cup Championship.
Richard Kerr: “That’s Laguna all done and it’s definitely a class track! I didn’t find it too hard to learn and with the exception of the Corkscrew there wasn’t any blind corners. I felt like I picked it all up in the first session and was happy enough but from that point on I struggled to improve my lap times – I got quicker each time I was on track but remained 1-1.5s off the front runners. I felt strong in some parts of the circuit but was losing too much time in others and that meant the results weren’t as good as I would have liked,”
“Going fast was hard to do for sure, but I enjoyed the track. I was missing my crew chief Simon at the weekend as he was away at the Southern 100 whilst I was also using the hard compound tyres for the first time so that combined with the new circuit meant it was a bit harder compared to other weekends. Maybe that’s why it took me a while to get dialled in, but we came away with four points-scoring finishes, no crashes and, as always, it was another enjoyable weekend.”
“With regards to Brands, first of all, I’d like to wish Rory a speedy recovery. As a racer no one likes to be out injured and especially as he has been doing such a great job for the team. I’ve known the TAS guys for quite some time and have obviously raced against them in Superstock. I’m also aware of their pedigree and history, so when asked to stand in for Rory in British Superbike, it was an easy decision to make. I’m looking forward to the challenge and representing Cheshire Mouldings BMW in BSB and I’d like to thank the team for this opportunity.”
MotoAmerica Superstock 1000 Championship standings (after four rounds)
1 Hayden Gillim (Honda) 151pts
2 Jayson Uribe (BMW) 144
3 Ashton Yates (Honda) 112
4 Benjamin Smith (Yamaha) 104
5 Bryce Prince (Yamaha) 98
6 Richard Kerr (AMD Motorsport/RK Racing Honda) 71
