Richard Kerr takes fifth at The Ridge

Richard Kerr came away with a fifth-place finish in the MotoAmerica Superstock 1000 and MotoAmerica Superbike Championship races at The Ridge Motorsports Park at the weekend.

Kerr and his AMD Motorsport Team were at the 2.47-mile venue near the city of Shelton, Washington and, as per the previous rounds, 24-year old Kerr had another new circuit to master.

The Kilmacrennan rider made good progress across the three days of action, which started with sixth place in the opening practice session.

The two qualifying sessions followed and a best time of 1’42.855 put him in eighth place overall and in the middle of the third row for Saturday’s 13-lap race where a solid opening lap put him in seventh place.

Here he remained until the closing stages when a lack of grip saw him drop back slightly to ninth.

Sunday’s race, again held over 13 laps, saw Kerr make one of his trademark lightening starts and he moved from eighth to fifth on the first lap.

Two laps later he moved up to fourth after championship leader Hayden Gillim crashed, remounting in 14th, and it looked like this would be where he would finish only to run low on fuel at the end of the race. However, he only lost one position with a fine fifth place at the chequered flag keeping him in sixth place in the championship standings.

Kerr also contested the two MotoAmerica Superbike Championship races and he excelled in Saturday’s encounter, which was held in the wet and ultimately stopped after eight laps.

Quickly getting to grips with the conditions, the Donegal man finished in a superb fifth place and ahead of several of the leading Superbike competitors including the Warhorse HSBK Ducati pairing of former World Superbike Championship race winner Loris Baz and three-time Daytona 200 winner Josh Herrin.

Howver, Kerr tipped off in Sunday’s second race, losing the front end on the third lap but despite only contesting three of the five rounds to take place so far, he sits in fourth overall in the Superbike Cup Championship.

“It was another big learning curve over the weekend with a new track to learn but The Ridge was a really good circuit and had a bit of everything in it with lots of blind corners,” Kerr said.

“I’m happy with the results and progress we made. In the first Superstock race, I was running in seventh for most of the race but in the final few laps, I really struggled for rear grip and dropped back to ninth.

“The second race was much better though, and I had better pace, holding onto fourth until the last corner.

“The quicker pace meant we used more fuel than expected and the bike cut out several times on the last lap, but I still managed to get the bike across the line in fifth place.

“That matched my result from Saturday’s Superbike race which was quite sketchy due to the conditions.

“It was my first time with the Dunlop wets, and I had a great feeling with them so was more than pleased with fifth. I tipped off in Sunday’s race, sadly, when I trail braked for a bit too long but we’re all fine so a huge thanks to my team for their hard work and my sponsors for another great weekend.”

The fourth round takes place at the iconic Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California on July 10-12.

Kerr is sixth in the MotoAmerica Superstock 1000 Championship standings after three rounds.