Brands Hatch Indy - Round 2, 2015

It felt like we had just finished round 1 and we were on our way to Kent for round 2 of the British Championship, on the Indy Circuit of Brands Hatch. It’s a very short circuit, around the mid 40 seconds completes a lap. I’ve always found it one of my most difficult tracks on the UK calendar, but it’s still a great circuit to ride.

Our two practice sessions on Friday were feeling pretty good. The bike was handling nicely but we had a few issues with the brakes. We were unable to get a consistent feel out of them. The team worked hard to rectify the problem and by Saturdays qualifying, we had them feeling great again. I qualified 6th Supersport Evo, which I was reasonably happy with, knowing that I do struggle around this circuit. We then had an 18 lap race on Saturday afternoon. I had a tough opening two laps, getting beat up pretty bad by some other riders. I lost a lot of rhythm, and my own fault, I took too long to regain a good lap time. I had a good battle with 3-4 other riders, and I came out on top of that battle to come home in 7th. I was happy the way the race finished, as I have shown I’ve battling well when I’m in a dice with the other riders.

Unfortunately, our grid spot for Sunday, go off our lap times from Saturday. Even though I finished 7th I was 13th fastest on track so I had to start quite a way down the grid! I knew I’d have a tough race on my hands. With it being such a short circuit, there are limited passes opportunities. However, my race was much stronger than the previous days race. I worked my way through the field and set some much better lap times. I finished the race in 8th position.

Overall to come away with 7th and 8th at one of my toughest tracks, I have to take as a positive. I’m sitting 4th in the championship and we are making good steps forward each time out. I have worked really hard over the break to improve my qualifying mentality, and it is really showing this season, as I’ve been going much better in qualifying than last season. I still have work to do, to make the most of what we are capable of in the races, especially when race 1 is setting us up for our grid positions for race 2.

Our next round is at Oulton Park in 2 weeks’ time. I really enjoy that circuit and can’t wait to get back out on the CPE Motosport ZXR600. Thank you to my team, sponsors, supporters and everyone who follows my racing!

Levi Day #57