Round 5 of the season took place at Brands Hatch. Aside from a few showers on Friday, the weekend saw sunny skies and a dry track. This round was a tough one for us but still with its positives.
Friday got underway under cloudy skies, with Sam and Finley’s first free practice session at 9:00. Throughout this session Sam completed 11 laps and Finley completed 15. Sam’s fastest lap of FP1 was a 1:33.506, which he clocked on his last lap of the session. With this time, Sam finished session P13, 2.156 seconds off of P1. Finley clocked his fastest lap of the session on his 12th lap as a 1:32.513. This saw him take P6, missing P1 by 1.163 seconds. Joe’s FP1 session got underway at 10:50. During this session Joe completed a total of 13 laps. His fastest lap of the session was put in on his 12th lap. Joe’s fastest lap of FP1 was a 1:30.130. Which put him 2.462 seconds off of P1, seeing him finish FP1 P24.
Unfortunately, due to rain that had moved in over the lunch break, Sam and Finley had a wet FP2. As a result, decided not to go out as the bikes were set up for the dry. However, the rain had cleared for Joe’s second free practice at 15:40. During his second session, Joe completed another 13 laps, with his fastest lap being put in on his 9th lap. His fastest lap of FP2 was around a 1-second improvement from his FP1 time, with his FP2 time being 1:29.831. With this time, Joe finished FP2 P23 and 2.628 seconds off of P1.
The weather had warmed up, in comparison to Friday. 9:57 saw the first of the qualifying sessions, with Joe out first. Joe continued to build on his progress from Friday, continuing to go faster. Throughout qualifying, he completed 14 laps, with his fastest lap being put in on lap 10, 1:28.978. This time saw him qualify P24 and put him 2.535 seconds off of P1. Junior Superstock qualifying got underway an hour later, at 11:00. Sam had a positive session, improving on his FP1 session and continuing to improve his pace.
Sam completed 12 laps during qualifying, clocking his fastest lap on his 9th lap. His fastest time of the session was 1:30.749. This saw him take P5 on the grid for the race on Sunday. This put him 0.374 seconds off of P1 and was a 3-second improvement from his fastest time on Friday! Finley only completed 3 laps during qualifying as he, unfortunately, crashed a few laps in. Despite this, his fastest lap of the session was 1:32.783. Which saw him secure P25 on the grid and put him 2.408 seconds off of P1.
The second session for us on Saturday was Joe’s first race of the weekend. The race got underway at the later time of 15:04, due to a couple of red flags in previous sessions. He got a decent start and held his position. In the later stages of the race, the red flag came out. As a result of the race having already run two-thirds of a race distance, the race was stopped early. Joe finished the race P19. His fastest lap being clocked on lap 9 of the shortened race which was a 1:29.366.
Morning warm-ups got underway at 9:09 for us. Sam and Finley out first in the sunny weather. Both completed 6 laps during the 10 minutes session. Sam’s fastest lap of the session was a 1:31.557 which he clocked on lap 5 of the 6 completed. With this time he finished warm-up P5, only 0.665 seconds off of P1. Finley’s fastest lap came on his last lap of the session as a 1:32.322. He finished warm-up P14 and was 1.430 seconds off of P1. A reduced gap from the gap to P1 in qualifying. National Superstock warm-up went out at 10:05, with Joe completing 7 laps during the session. His fastest lap of the morning session was 1:29.075. Which he put in on his 3rd lap of the session. This saw him finish warm-up P18 and 1.464 seconds off of P1. Joe starts the second race from P22 on the grid.
11:00 saw the lights out for Sam and Finley’s race. Sam misjudged the lights with a jump start, trying to stop once he realised. This resulted in race control giving him a ride-through penalty. After he took the lead a few corners into the first lap. When he took his ride-through he took it a bit too quick. Resulting in another ride-through penalty as a result of speeding through the pit lane. Sam got his head down and charged through the pack. He pushed a little too much and unfortunately tucked the front at Stirling Bend. Sam’s fastest lap of the race was a 1:31.603, which he put in on lap 9.
Finley had a good start to the race. Making up a few positions in the first few laps. Unfortunately, losing the front on the exit of Druids on lap 5. Despite this, his fastest lap of the race was 1:31.751 which he completed on lap 4 of the race. This lap time was also Finley’s fastest of the entire weekend!
Race 2 for Joe got underway at 14:50. Joe had a strong start. He caught up to one of the Aprilias who crashed. Leaving Joe riding alone for the rest of the race, bringing it home in P19. His fastest lap of the race was 1:29.176, which he put in on lap 6 of the 15-lap race.
Brands Hatch was a tough one but all riders had good pace throughout the weekend and these weekends happen. Leaving Brands, Sam sits P7 in the Junior Superstock championship, with Finely in P11. Joe sits in P18 of the National Superstock championship. We now look to Thruxton on the 12th – 14th of August.
‘Brands Hatch at the weekend, for me, was exciting and challenging, to say the least. Throughout the weekend I had a strong pace. Unfortunately, the race didn’t go to plan as I misjudged the lights with a jump-start and had a ride-through, after taking the lead. With a bit of frustration, I took my ride-through a bit too quickly, eager to rejoin the race, landing me with another ride-through. After this, I, unfortunately, tucked the front at Stirling Bend. Not a great way to end the race as I was confident we could have been on the podium. Apologies to the team and big Joe, I will amend myself and come back stronger for Thruxton in a couple of weeks’ time.’
‘A difficult weekend for myself, like Joe, I’ve just had one of those weekends where it hasn’t gone to plan. The positives are that I know I have the pace around Brands Hatch, but the crashes definitely hindered my confidence. We all get these weekends and I’m already looking forward to my home round at Thruxton!
‘Brands Hatch was a struggle for me, one of the hardest weekends so far in the season. I really lacked confidence in the bike and myself this weekend, things just weren’t clicking like normal. However, we have these bad weekends and have to move on from them, ready to make amends at Thruxton in a couple of weeks. Thanks to the team for always trying their best to get me feeling good!’
