Beech beset by bike problems

Ashley Beech; dismal weekend

MOTORCYCLING: 

ASHLEY Beech may have overcome the effects of his heavy crash in round two of the National Superstock 1000 Championship — but his bike hasn’t.

Despite breaking two bones in a foot and one in a hand last month, the Moorside ace was declared fit for round four at Donington Park.

This latest round supported the British stage of the World Superbike series, and it was a great chance for the 26 year old to perform in front of 30,000 spectators.

But he was dogged by mechanical problems from the start. At practice his Kawasaki ZX-10R developed a serious fault and he was unable to get the bike out of second gear. Technicians later found a broken cog had damaged the box extensively.

The Morello Racing team came to the rescue by offering spares Beech’s engineers could use to rebuild the box.

But the race completed only two laps in qualifying before the throttle stuck open and again he was forced to retire. So little track time left him 27th on the grid.

After a good start to the race — he gained four places in the first lap — his bike suffered intermittent power loss and a slipping clutch and he had to retire on lap five.

The team now heads to Snetterton for a two-day test session, where they will attempt to fix the performance issues in time for the next round in three weeks.