2022 British Superstock 1000 Championship - Round 3 - Donington Park

 

Round 3 of the National Superstock 1000 Championship was held over the weekend at Donington Park. I really enjoy the circuit, it's one on the UK's most fast and flowing tracks, and always makes for great racing and great battles on track. This weekend would be no different!

There was a club race and test day there 2 weeks before this event, which many of the riders entered for track time prior to the event. Due to out limited budget this season, we hadn't ridden there since last year, so it was straight into Fridays two practice sessions and steadily working away to find a good set up for the weekend. We tried a couple of different gearing patterns and suspension ideas, to help build an understanding of the direction to take into qualifying on Saturday. In 2021 on the Suzuki my best lap time was a 1:08.1. We managed to match that in practice and had a good feeling going in to qualifying on Saturday.

Saturday was qualifying day and also Race 1, which would be a 20 lap race in the afternoon. I found some good clear track in qualifying and managed to do a 1:07.7 in qualifying. The pace was unbelievable, with Davey Todd on a Honda doing a 1:06.7, half a second under the lap record! My time was good enough for 14th, with the times ridiculously close all the way through the field. In the race I got a decent start, and was in a huge battle from 7^thto 18^thposition. It felt like a moto3 race, and we were all battling really strong. The race got red flagged on lap 11 due to fluid in the final turn and a few people crashing on the fluid, meaning we had only just crossed half race distance. The race was restarted as an 8 lap race. I got another decent start but had a huge moment at turn 1 on the opening lap, dropping 5 positions straight away. I had my work cut out for me but I got back in a good group battle and felt strong. With two laps to go, another rider ran super wide at turn 1 and I took the racing line, nipping up the inside. The rider cut back onto the racing line, making contact with me, causing me to crash out of the race. It was an unfortunate end to the race, but we pick our selves up and move on to the next day! The grid positions for race two, are made up from the lap times from race 1, so this meant I would start race 2 from 8^thposition on the grid.

The grid position is so important in this fiercely competitive field, to try and break away with the front group instead of getting caught in the battle of a big group of riders. I got a good start in race two and was in 7^thplace. A crash on the first lap mean the safety car came out for a few laps. When the safety car went in, I was then in 6^thposition and settled in to a good rhythm. For half the race we hanging in there not losing to much time to the leaders. I made a couple of mistakes which meant I lost a bit of time mid race and a couple of position along the way. I finished the 20 lap race in 10^thposition, with a PB lap time of a 1:07.5, while a new lap record was set at 1:07.1. So I was pleased our lap time was pretty decent, I just lost a bit to much time in the later half of the race. But another top 10 result with no testing prior to the event I am happy with. We keep learning and building momentum. We have a few weeks off now with the Isle of Man TT on, and our next round is at Knockhill in Scotland in a 3 weeks time.

A huge thank you to all my crew for their hard work over the weekend, and having my back always! Thank you Powerslide Motorcycles and all my sponsors who help make this season possible!

Cheers

Levi Day

Photos: CamiPix