Our thoughts throughout the weekend were with the Royal family following the profound loss of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. God save the King.
ROUND 8 – Snetterton 300 TOMMO21 RACE SUMMARY 2022 Bennetts British Superbike Championship Quattro Plant Hire British Supersport 600
Saturday: - Qualifying - P24 - Sprint Race (10 laps) – P22
Sunday: - Feature Race (14 laps) – P23
Best Lap: 1:58.5 () Ideal Lap: 1:58.0
Event Sponsors: Mr Stainless Ltd and Healey Building & Maintenance
Summary:
After setting up early on Thursday, we were ready and hoping for a smooth weekend of racing…racing never goes smoothly.
Friday: FP1 / FP2 A dry FP1 was a good start to the weekend however the rain fell within minutes of the end of our session. Unfortunately, an electronics glitch prevented the bike recording any data which proved costly later in the weekend. The track was wet but drying come FP2, so I set a couple of laps on new wets before coming in to save the tyres.
Saturday: Qualifying The first 2/3 of the track was dry with the last 1/3 still being wet with a very small dry line appearing. So with the help of K Tech, we set out with a wet front and inter rear. Setting a time good enough for P13 half way through the session, I come in for full drys as the dry line over the back third of the track was growing. With 11 minutes left, I left pit lane and it started to drizzle again. It stopped within a couple of minutes and I stayed out hoping the track would come back to me and it did. However, in the last few minutes I went into Brundle too hot and aimed for the apex to stop me from running wide but hit a damp patch and the front washed out. Luckily, I scrubbed off a fair bit of speed but it was still a fast off. It was an opportunity for a very good qualifying missed! But nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Sprint Race: A poor start and I found myself at the back of the pack come lap 1. I struggled in the first few laps for any pace but got going come lap 4. By mid race distance, I caught De Vries on the GP2 bike and after following for a lap or so, went passed on the brakes. I was strong on the brakes but weak on corner exit, so we swapped places a few times over the remaining laps but I managed to keep ahead on the last lap.
Sunday: Feature Race Having made a some big set up changes for warm up and even more for the feature race, we weren’t sure where we’d end up. Another poor start left me at the back of the grid, but that first lap I managed to pick up a place and started to close on Jake Archer who had pulled a slight gap. Around Lap 3, De Vries drafted past me down the start finish straight which put me slightly wide into the fast right hander of turn 1. Losing some time from this, I was pushing hard to keep in touch with De Vries when on lap 5 going into Agostini, I went down the gears too quick which locked the rear and which almost threw me over the handle bars. I held on to it but this put me on the grass at speed. I managed to keep it up right and stopped it just before hitting the barriers…bugger! I got back on track and headed into the pit to have the bike checked over. Everything looked okay so having gone a lap down, I went back on track for some testing and to record some more data.
It was disappointing not to be able to find any time following the Sprint race, but I think we just got lost with set up making big changes for every dry session. Big thanks to the team as ever, especially for getting the bike back together after the qualifying crash and for packing everything away at the end of the weekend. It may seem like it, but this is NOT an individual sport and I could not compete without you!
It looks like I’m having to miss the next round at Oulton Park due to some of the bike issues we’ve had over the season draining funds. So you’ll next see me on track at Donnington between 1 – 2 Oct.
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