2021 British Superstock 1000 - Round 5 - Donington

Round 5 of the British Superstock 1000 Championship was held over the weekend at Donington Park. It's a track I really enjoy with its fast flowing corners and high speed accelaration. We had a good round at Thruxton two weeks prior, getting two 10th places in the fiecrly competitive Superstock 1000 Class.

We had two practice sessions on the Friday and we worked through our set up and made alot of changes through out the sessions. We have really been using Fridays as information collecting, gaining more and more knowledge of the Suzuki with every session. I was feeling good for Qualifying and Race 1 on Saturday. There were 47 riders enetered for the weekend, and the lap time is only just over a minute long on the 'National' circuit we were riding this weekend. The track was extremely busy, with riders sitting up all over the place, looking for clear track, getting tows, or just gaining composure ready for a fast lap. I was finding my way through a bunch of riders who were touring and came out on to the back straight slightly off line. Next thing I knew was the back of my Suzuki stepping out on me and throwing me into a nasty high side! With the adrenaline pumping I felt ok, other than fairly battered and bruised. 

Due to my crash I never got a good lap in, which meant I would start the race later that day in 25th position. We knew we had much better pace than this, so I was looking forward to the race. The bike did a reasonable amount of damage to the right hand side of the bike, so my team were working hard to get the bike ready for the race. As if they didnt have enough to worry about, it then rained 10 minutes before our race, meaning they had to swap the wheels out while still repairing the bike. The siren blew for the pitlane to open, which stays open for 4 minutes, to get on to the grid. My crew worked so hard and managed to get me out for the race.

Being so far back always presents risks that if there are crashes ahead of you, you can get mixed up in them. Tom Ward fell at the first corner and I had to take avoiding action, but managed to keep it going. I was tentative on the first few laps, as I hadnt ridden the bike since the crash, we had to make sure the brakes were working, the chassis was straight and so on. The track started to dry a little mid way through the race and I felt comfortable on a damp track. I worked my way through to finish 18th. Obviously not where we want to be, but considering what we had gone through as a team that day, it was nice to just bring it home!

I noticed toward the end of the race on Saturday that I was a little more sore that I initially thought. After waking on the Sunday morning, I was feeling pretty stiff and beat up! I did our warm up session and really struggled to breath heavy and had severe pain in my back. I thought it best to go and get an X-Ray from the circuit medical staff, who confirmed that I had broken a rib and fractured my T5 Vertebrae. It was a real blow, as I was looking forward to race 2, but we of course made the decision to miss the remainder of the weekend, and the upcoming weekend at Cadwell Park. 

I am now having sessions in the Hyperbaric Chamber, Laser Therapy and Magnetic Field Therapy in order to the be fit fot Snetterton in 3 weeks time. Apologies to my team and sponsors, but I'm working hard to come back and be fighting for good results again! It was also nice to have Eddie Hall - Worlds Strongest Man, with us over the weekend, who is an Ambassador for Powerslide Motorcycles.

Thank you to all my crew at Powerslide Racing, I've got such a great team around me who are like family, so thank you for the support. and to my Major Sponsor AJN Steelstock for their amazing support this year!

Thank you to our team sponsors and partners:

Cheers! Levi Day