Round 4 of the season took place at Knockhill, up in Scotland, where we had heavy rain Friday morning and dry sessions for the rest of the weekend. A good weekend of racing with positives for all riders!
The first FP1 session of the weekend for us was Sam and Finley’s session at 9:30, unfortunately under very wet and rainy conditions. As a result of the conditions, Sam decided not to go out during FP1. Finley, however, had a very positive session. During the wet FP1 session, Finley completed a total of 28 laps, with his fastest lap time of the session being put in on his 27th lap, as a 58.722. This time saw Finley finish the first session of the weekend P1 overall! The second FP1 session for the team got underway at 11:30 for Joe, still in rainy conditions with only 19 riders in total taking to the track. During this FP1 session, Joe completed a total of 27 laps, with his fastest lap being put in on lap 18 of the session. His fastest lap of the session was a 56.280, which put him 2.361 seconds off of P1 and saw him finish the wet FP1 session in P11.
FP2 for Sam and Finley got underway at 13:49 under cloudy skies and on a damp track, but this time with a dry line. Both Sam and Finley went out in FP2, with Sam completing 18 laps and Finley completing 24 laps. Sam’s fastest lap of the session was a 53.207, which he put in on lap 14 of the 18 that he completed. This time saw him finish the session in P2 and put him 0.138 off of P1. Finley’s fastest lap of the session came on his last lap, as a 54.945, with the gap between himself and P1 being 1.876. With this time, Finley finished FP2 in P13. The last session on Friday for us, was Joe’s FP2 session which got underway at 15:50. For Joe’s session, the track was dry. During FP2 Joe completed a total of 25 laps, with his fastest lap being put in on lap 13. As a result of the drier conditions, as opposed to the conditions earlier in the day, Joe shaved 6 seconds off of his time in FP1, with his quickest lap of FP2 being a 50.055. He also further reduced the gap between himself and P1 to 1.286 seconds. Joe finished FP2 P19 overall.
The first session of Saturday for us was Sam and Finley’s qualifying session. Unlike the start of sessions on Friday, qualifying for Junior Superstock took place under cloudy skies and on a dry track, at the slightly later time of 9:53, as a result of a few red flags in the previous session. Sam completed 7 laps before unfortunately crashing out at turn 3, which saw him sit the rest of the qualifying session out. Sam’s fastest lap of the session was a 52.749 which he put in on lap 5 of the 7 that he completed. This time put him 1.844 seconds off of P1 and saw him qualify P28 for the first race at 15:00. Finley completed a total of 29 laps during qualifying, with his fastest lap time being put in on lap 24 as a 51.522. With this time, Finley qualified P7 for the first race of the weekend and was only 0.617 seconds off of P1, a further improvement from Friday’s FP2 session! The final qualifying session for us got underway at 11:01, just missing the rain that hit the BSB FP3 session. During his qualifying session, Joe completed 28 laps in total, with his fastest lap being set on lap 23 of the 28 completed. His fastest lap of qualifying was a 49.643 which saw him qualify P20 for the first race later in the day. As a result of this time, he was 0.976 seconds off of P1. His fastest lap in qualifying was an improvement from his FP2 time on Friday, allowing him to also reduce his gap to P1 from FP2 on Friday!
As a result of Sam’s high-side during qualifying, the team worked hard to get his bike sorted and race ready for the first race and got him onto the grid! The first race of the weekend for Sam and Finley got underway at 15:00 under sunny, but cloudy, skies. Both riders got good starts with Finley holding his position off of the line and Sam gaining 8 places to finish the first lap in P20. 3 laps into the race rain started to fall but thankfully it didn’t come to anything. Throughout the race Sam made consistent progress, gaining positions on most laps in order to get into the top 10. Finley battled with Durham and Bednarek for a good portion of the race for P8. Sam closed the gap to Finley, Durham and Bednarek where himself and Finley battled for P9 before Sam passed Finley. Both riders had a good race with Sam gaining 10 positions to finish race 1 P8, having started from P28. Finley held his place in the top 10 throughout the entirety of the race and took the chequered flag in P9. Sam’s fastest lap of the race was a 50.977 which he put in on lap 14 of the 22 lap race and this will see him line up in P5 for race 2 on Sunday. Finley’s fastest lap of the race was a 51.427 which he clocked on lap 7 of 22 and this will see him start from P11 in race 2.
The second race of the day on Saturday was the National Superstock race for Joe, which got underway at 15:40 under sunny and cloudy skies and on a dry track. Joe got a good start off of the line, making up 2 positions to finish lap 1 in P18. He battled with Day in the early laps for P18 and held a steady pace, maintaining P18. Lap 10 of the 24 lap race saw Joe move up 2 more positions to take P16. A crash on lap 11 saw him gain a few more positions, putting him inside the points with P14. Throughout the race Joe made consistently good progress and moved up through the field to take the chequered flag P11. His fastest lap of the race was a 49.541 which he clocked on lap 9 of the 24 lap race. With this lap time, Joe will start from P17 for the second race on Sunday.
First up for us on Sunday were the warm up sessions, with Sam and Finley heading out on track at 9:20 under cloudy skies. Both riders completed a total of 10 laps during the 10 minute warm up session. Sam’s fastest lap was a 51.375 which he put in on lap 8 of the 10 completed. With this time, Sam finished warm up P4 and 0.463 seconds off of P1, the smallest the gap has been so far over the weekend! Finley’s fastest lap was a 51.944 which he clocked on lap 8 as well. This time saw Finley finish the first session of Sunday in P14, 1.032 seconds off of P1. The second warm up session for us was Joe’s session which went out at 10:24, slightly delayed due to a red flag in an earlier session. During his warm up, Joe completed 12 laps in total, with his fastest lap being clocked on lap 9 as a 49.792. This time saw Joe finish warm up P21 and 0.874 off of P1.
11:15 saw the lights out for the second race of the weekend for Sam and Finley. Sam got a good start off of the line and finished lap 1 in P4, however Finley dropped back a couple of positions to P12. The second lap of the race saw Finley unfortunately crash out at the hairpin which saw the safety car come out for a few laps. Finley walked away from the crash but went to the medical centre for a further check up. Sam moved up into P3 for a few laps, battling with Jenner for P2. Sam ran wide at the hairpin on lap 13 and fell back to P8 before making up a place to hold P7 for the remainder of the race, eventually taking the chequered flag in P7. Sam’s fastest lap of the race was a 50.748 which he clocked on lap 13 of the 22 lap race.
The final race of the weekend for us was Joe’s race which got underway at 14:50 under sunny skies. Joe had a good first lap and made up several positions in order to finish lap 1 in P11. He moved up a few more places on lap 4 in order to sit in P9, unfortunately dropping back a couple of places after a few more laps. Joe battled with Winfield and Sheldon-Shaw for P11, eventually passing Winfield to take P11. He continued to make progress throughout the race and moved up to P9 on lap 18. For the remainder of the race he maintained his position to take the chequered flag in P9. Joe’s fastest lap of the race was a 49.409 which he put in on lap 6 of the 24 lap race which was his fastest lap of the entire weekend.
Another good weekend for us with all riders getting top 10 finishes and an unfortunate crash for Finley who is thankfully okay. After Round 4, Sam sits P7 in the Junior Superstock Championship with Finley in P11. Joe currently sits in P14 of the National Superstock Championship. Next up is Brands Hatch on the 22nd – 24th July!
Sam Laffins: ‘Knockhill was full of ups and downs. After sitting out the first session because of the bad weather, to having a slip off early on in qualifying, which means we didn’t get a good grid position for race 1, starting P28 in race 1 and making our way to finishing P8, I was over the moon with the progression we made. So happy to come away with 2 good points scoring positions and now heading into the summer break we can regroup and focus on Brands Hatch.’
Finley Arscott: ‘Knockhill was full of positives for me, seeing as it was my first time ever at the place this weekend. I was very happy to top the opening free practice session as it was my first ever time going around the track, and I was also happy with my top 10 result on Saturday. Didn’t end on such a positive note as I crashed out of the race on Sunday, but I can regroup and take the positives and look forward to the next round!’
Joe Talbot: ‘Up in Scotland was a solid weekend for me. We managed to take home some valuable points in both races and a top 10 in the second race. I’m happy to get away and go to a track I know and where I feel strong at!’
