'Hardest weekend' ends in frustration for G&S, with Kevin Keyes' season over

The three G&S Racing Kawasaki riders, Kevin Keyes, Milo Ward and TJ Toms were at Donington Park for the penultimate round of their championships where, following a crash on Friday in free practice, Kevin Keys was unable to race.

Milo Ward also suffered a crash in qualifying and was unable to get out for the first race but finished 24th in the second race.

TJ Toms qualified in 24th place but was caught out in the heavy rain and slid off on race one but went on to claim 23rd place in the second race.

Keyes was unlucky to crash in the wet free practice session on Friday and although initially felt fine his hand got progressively sore so paid a visit to the medical centre where an x-ray showed the screws were pulled from the plate in his hand.

He had a medical test on Saturday ahead of qualifying but it was deemed he was unfit to race so his weekend and his season are now over.

Ward began the weekend well, topping the leaderboard in a wet practice on Friday.

He went on to record 15th place in qualifying but in the dying seconds of the session he made a mistake and went down at the old hairpin.

He was uninjured but the bike was badly damaged and there was insufficient time to get the repairs done in time for the first race on Saturday although with a lot of hard work from the team they had it up and running in time for race two.

But because of the non start in race one he was put back to the 11th row for the start of the second race on Sunday where he rode well to complete the 14 laps in 24th position.

It was a weekend to forget for Toms as he was taken out by another rider in qualifying and ended up on row 10 in 24th place for race one.

But his race was short lived as he crashed on the first lap in the heavy rain.

Once again the team did a fantastic job repairing the bike in time for race two and Toms started from the 10th row. He rode well in tricky conditions and brought the bike home safely in 23rd position.

Team manager Tom Fisher said: "That was the hardest weekend we have ever had with so much damage to the bikes due to the weather and the Donington Park circuit being so slippery.

"Kevin crashed in practice and damaged his hand so was unable to race.

"TJ was knocked off his bike in qualifying by another rider, then Milo crashed in the same session in the horrendous weather conditions after qualifying so well and we couldn't get the bike repaired in time for him for race one.

"Then TJ crashed in the race so that was more damage to repair. TJ and Milo had to start from near the back of the grid in race two and considering the lack of track time and the crashes they did very well.

"We never stopped all weekend working flat out. Thanks to the team for their hard work and we move on to Brands Hatch and hopefully an easier weekend."

The team will take in the annual Stars at Darley races on October 9-10 prior to the final round of the Superstock championship at Brands Hatch on October 15-17.