ROUND 3 – DONINGTON PARK TOMMO21 ROUND SUMMARY
2022 Bennetts British Superbike Championship Quattro Plant Hire British Supersport 600
Saturday: - Qualifying - P29 - Sprint Race (16 laps, reduced distance) - P24
Sunday: - Feature Race (24 laps) – P24
Best Lap: 1:11.4 (PB) Ideal Lap: 1:11.1
Summary: A positive weekend racing with #TrudyTriumph with a big team and family effort to help after the rough start to the season. I was slightly off the pace I wanted this weekend but with the lack of testing, our mechanical dramas & having not raced Trudy in over a year, all things considered it was enjoyable. Also having someone find us in the paddock after the feature race just to say that #TrudyTruimph is the best sounding bike in the paddock is winning in my book!
Friday: FP1 / FP2 It was great to be back racing Trudy Triumph. FP1 was used just to get the feeling back on the bike before moving forward with setup in FP2. Lots changed and was content with my progress over the two sessions.
Saturday: Qualifying We had a few major changes to the bike for qualifying, so I treated it as another practice session. I was happy enough to get into the high 1:11’s with a little left in the tank
Sprint Race Firstly, best wishes to the guys caught up in the first lap incident, particularly Josh Day. Get better soon buddy. The race was red flagged and restarted for 16 laps. I got a poor start then ran wide avoiding another bike going into the last corner. Getting my head down, I worked through the laps getting faster with almost every lap, picking off a number of riders along the way. Catching Benny Grayson with a few laps to go and we had a right battle locking handlebars to the finish, a battle of which I come out on top of with a lap to go. It was great fun and I was really happy with my ride throughout the race. I had the pace for a top 20 finish but with the first lap mistakes, it wasn’t to be.
Sunday: Warm Up Did a couple of laps to work on race pace just on the first and last corner. I tried a setup change with this which I thought was positive come the end of warm up, however it came back to bite me in the feature race.
Feature Race A mechanical problem on the grid led to me starting from pit lane. I tried to push on as I did in the Sprint race, but didn’t have the confidence. I did manage to catch & pass Grayson due to a mistake by him, but having started from pit lane, I got caught behind a back marker and he got back past on the straight. It was a flat end to what was otherwise a very positive weekend.
I had lots of family and friend support over the weekend to help get things back on track after a rough few rounds. Between work and having little Emilia at home, it’s been extremely difficult to bring racing together this year, not to mention being able to then perform on track as I expect. I still have a little more to find in myself & the bike, but this weekend was a step in that right direction.
Finally thanks to all my supporters, couldn’t be doing this without you guys!
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