Hard work pays off for Hawk duo.

Hard work and sheer determination paid off in points for the Hawk Kawasaki duo of Glen Richards and Dean Thomas at the second round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship held at Thruxton Sunday.

The Hawk Kawasaki riders worked hard against the bitter cold and gusting winds throughout Saturday's qualifying on the Hampshire circuit's fast and bumpy layout. Richards quickly found a setting for his Hawk Kawasaki ZX-10R that made the most of the grip offered by a race tyre, but had less luck finding a similar setting for the super-sticky qualifying tyres and finished Saturday's session 6th on the grid.

Team-mate Thomas found himself in the exact opposite position, with his machine unable to settle on its race tyres but handling superbly when fitted with the qualifying tyre. Understandably frustrated the likeable Aussie worked through the evening with his technicians to be able to make the most of his 10th place grid position for Sunday's races.

Race day promised and delivered better weather conditions as the Hawk Kawasaki pairing lined up on the grid. Race one saw strong starts from both riders with Richards climbing up to fourth position and concentrating on trying to overhaul the lead group as the race progressed. As the gap narrowed Richards utilized his knowledge of Thruxton's bumps and twists to pull his nimble Kawasaki closer and closer until a missed gear change allowed three of the chasing pack to slide under the green machine.

Having asked a great deal of his suffering rear tyre Glen was unable to prevent his team-mate coming past, locked in a battle with Suzuki-mounted Smart, to eventually finish ninth overall.

"If I'm honest I'm disappointed with the first race result, but what can you do?" commented Richards. "I missed a gear and all of a sudden there are three or four bikes screaming past, it's that close out there, so I had to push hard just to finish in the top ten."

Thomas finished race one a position ahead of his Hawk Kawasaki team-mate but had used the race as a valuable learning exercise. Following Richards for much of the race Deano had been able to take a masterclass in how to get the most from the ZX-10R around the circuit and used this to good effect in the second race of the day.

Having admitted to feeling more comfortable with his Hawk Kawasaki ZX-10R earlier in the week, Thomas made a good start and tucked into a group of four riders to battle through the race, never letting his fellow Australian Richards break away.

As both of the Hawk Kawasaki riders managed their rear tyre wear a little better than in race one they were able to squeeze out Ducati rider Leon Haslam on the last chicane of the race, with Thomas capitalising as Haslam was forced wide by a determined charge from Richards, to claim fifth and sixth at the flag, with the #75 machine of Richards being chased home by Thomas.

"That second race was a much better finish, kind of where I wanted to be round here," commented Glen. "This is the one of the fastest tracks, and we've proved our bike is on the pace, so it's good. I've scored some good points, and I think that keeps me in the top five of the championship.

"We've learnt a load of good things about the bike this weekend, and I'm real pleased with it, and with how hard the guys in the team have worked to get it where I want it. Hopefully we're going to test before the next race, and that will move us forward again. As I said, I'm just real pleased to be out there mixing up it again. I can't wait for Mallory!"

Dean Thomas was also pleased with his weekend;

"Yeah, I mean qualifying wasn't what I wanted, and to be honest neither was the first race," he said. "I think I could have got past Glen earlier in the race, there were a few times when I could see he was struggling with his tyre, but I wanted to learn how he rode the bike. It was real tempting to push past, but I think it's one of the most valuable things I've done since I joined the team.

"My adaptation to the ZX-10R has taken another huge step forward this weekend, I feel real good on the bike now and I think I showed a little of that in the second race. Into the last chicane I could see Haslam struggling for grip, and I was watching Glen line him up for a pass. I just thought if Glen can make an opening then I'm going through too!

"As it happened it worked real well for me and we went over the line in fifth and sixth. I've made no bones about the fact that I want to win this championship, and scoring consistent points is the way to do that. I'm real happy with things, in fact I don't think I could be happier if I'd been standing on the podium this weekend!" concluded Thomas.