ROUND 8 RACE REPORT: Donington Park GP – BTC Wild Card
British Talent Cup – Moto 3 bike
This weekend was one to remember as I had my debut in the Honda British Talent Cup riding a Moto 3 bike instead of my Junior Super Sport Ninja, as I needed to find options for next year due to the JSS class sadly being axed and no longer part of the BSB calendar in 2024. So my wildcard ride was with Wilson Racing, a well established championship winning team, who I’d like to thank for the experience and all involved in preparing my bike for every time I went out.
The British Talent Cup has much more track time during a BSB round than the Junior Super Sport class, about 2 hours 30 minutes as opposed to 1hr 20 minutes so that was a bonus, the more time the better, especially seeing as I’d never ridden the bike before. So we had two 30 minute Free Practice sessions on the Friday.
FP1 was at 10am and the track was still damp from the overnight rain with drying lines on the odd few corners. So my baptism onto the bike was bit sketchy, on wet tyres, however I felt quite comfortable with the bike. It wasn’t anymore powerful than other bikes I’ve ridden, though the riding position, brakes and gears were very different from the Ninja. As the session progressed I consistently achieved green sectors, lap on lap which was what we were aiming for. I knew I wasn’t going to set any world records and ended my first ever BTC session in p26 out of 30.
FP2 was a weird one as the bike seemed to be losing power the more laps I did, I was P30 and wasn’t improving lap times, I was shown the Black and Orange circle flag (Meatball) toward the end of the session meaning I had a mechanical problem and to get to the pits. The bike died before I could reach them. Oil had been leaking from the bike causing it to smoke. Once back to the pits, the team cleaned up the bike and tried to start it, it would only fire for a second and then die. Gary – Team Owner/Manager just from hearing it correctly diagnosed a cracked the piston – that’s experience for you!
Saturday wasn’t the best of days, we were the first session of the day, straight into qualifying which was a dry session, building up speed I managed to tag on the back of some faster riders on my 3rd lap, however coming out of the Melbourne Loop hairpin I opened the throttle too hard whilst lent over too far, causing the back wheel to lose grip, step out and highside me off. On reflection, the team added that it could of been that I was used to the bike having less power due to the problems on the Friday, which in theory made sense, but it was still rider error, I turned in too early, apexed too early, got on the gas too early and the bike then told me to get off! It’s all learning. Unfortunately as I only put in 3 laps I was P29 on the grid for Race 1.
Race 1 was great experience, but there were a few things that I still needed to try…a race start was one of them! Not having the opportunity to practice one at the end of the qualifying session, who knew what would happen, as long as I didn’t stall it. These bikes have a very tall 1st gear, capable of doing 70mph in 1st, so they are notoriously difficult to get going, though I have been schooled by the likes of Charlie Nesbitt (now a BSB rider), I actually got a great start gaining a couple of positions by the first corner. I struggled with gear changes throughout the race though due to a bent gear change rod that wasn’t noticed after the crash the day before. During the race it bent more and more making it harder and harder to change gear. Another problem was my tuck and the stiffness of my leathers. To hold my legs in, was excruciatingly painful. My leathers were used to piloting a Ninja which is like an arm chair in comparison to a Moto 3 bike, so they hadn’t been stretched in the right places restricting my movement and making it difficult to get tucked in, ending my race in p21 – not bad. After the session all these problems were discussed with the team and resolved.
On the Sunday I felt confident. I knew all my previous problems were gone, I went out in Warm Up to test the bike and all was good, I put in my best lap times during this 8 minute session, I was ready for the race.
Race 2 saw the weather change, it started to rain 10 minutes before pit lane opened. It was a very wet race, I got another good start making my way up the grid just outside the points. I was comfortable in the conditions, it slows everything down and more smoooth. The rain was really heavy making it much harder to ride. There were points on the track where the standing water made me aquaplane going through some of the corners, so I was wary not to push too hard. Unfortunately I slowed too much and got caught and passed by several riders that I should have stayed in front of. I wanted to stay with them as they were lapping faster but I was too slow to react and missed my opportunity to go with them. Overall, for my first time on this bike, I was happy with my progression throughout the weekend, finishing race 2 in p22.
I’ve come away from the weekend with a smile on my face, I didn’t come last, I have a new found respect for my fellow competitors able to ride these Moto 3 bikes. You might think you can ride a bike, but believe me these are so different, so physical. I’ve got a lot to do over the winter to get up to speed for next year. So what am I doing next year you may ask?…well watch this space…announcement soon.
Unfortunately due to DORNA rules, I wasn’t allowed to compete in my usual Junior Super Sport class as well as the BTC class – it was the last ever round too. So sorry to my fellow competitors that I wasn’t there to get in your way one more time, for the last ever races of this class. I made some great mates this year, learnt a hell of a lot too, and it was an absolute blast riding with you all, and I wish you all the best of luck with whatever you move on to next, I’m sure our fairings will rub again sometime.
