WSS: Russell Holland Qatar summary

Russell Holland looking forward to Valencia

Still a lot to improve for the Echo CRS Grand Prix rider

Russell Holland and Echo CRS Grand Prix have completed the first two rounds of the World Supersport Championship with a nineteenth position in the rider's home race at Phillip Island, won by the 2007 Supersport champion Kenan Sofuoglu, and an eighteenth place obtained yesterday on the Qatar circuit of Losail, that saw the first win of the Irish rider Eugene Laverty.

Despite the lack of top speed suffered in both races and a clutch problem that affected his performance during the opening race in Australia, the Aussie rider is looking forward to the first European event of the season, that will take place in three weeks time on the Spanish track of Valencia.

"Well the first 2 rounds of the World Championship are now over" said Russell Holland. "It's happened pretty quick which I'm glad for because it wasn't the easiest start for our team. With some engine development before the first race of the year we expected to be quite competitive, however the bike is lacking considerable top-end performance compared to the competition and it hurt us quite a lot at the fast circuits of Phillip Island and Qatar".

"Unfortunately also we had a clutch problem during the race at Phillip Island which made things even harder. I am proud to say that we did a good job considering our situation, especially in Qatar last weekend. I really feel that we did some good work in improving the suspension setup and made the best result possible in the race!

So for the next race I very much hope that we have a stronger engine so that we can build on the good work that we have been doing up to now".

-credit: rh