Mixed fortunes for Moto Rapido at Thruxton

The weekend started very strong for both riders as we saw John consistently stay within the top five throughout each practice session of Superbike and Thomas dominate the Moto3 class.

Thruxton is a notoriously fast and abrasive circuit so we had to work on tyre wear for the race on the superbike after making John comfortable for the one lap speed of Superpole.
During the second qualifying session John made a mistake and needed to use his final rear tyre in the closing stages before heading into Superpole this meant we couldn’t achieve the best lap but we still ended 8th on the grid for the race.
We knew we had race pace and the tyre wear was looking good for us compared to some, unfortunately Joh suffered a puncher in the front tyre and we had to nurse the bike home in the final stages of Race 1 finishing 9th.

Race 2 John was starting in P8 again and knew he was faster than the guys ahead, our race started well and John pushed on at the half way stage of the race to start overtaking when disaster struck and our rear tyre split and he had to retire from the race, a few other riders suffered similar fate in the second race. (please see picture below).
John was clearly gutted as were the rest of the team, we strive to be the best and always work hard so when things are out of our control it becomes very sad.

Thomas Qualified in Pole position ready for race 1 on Saturday, he had an amazing start and with a 3 second lead after a few laps crashed out. He was still the fastest guy in his class so started Pole again for race 2 on Sunday and after a great battle with Max Cook he finished 2nd raising yet more silverware for the team and keeping are spirits high.

We now look forward to Round 8 at Cadwell park, we had a private test session last week and made some great changes for this circuit, it is one of the only circuits we use first gear so lots of work on engine braking statagies and blipper control.

I would like to thank you for the support thus far in the season, we had a tough start but we hope to come charging back for the end.

Race report and image courtesy of Iain Hopcroft - Moto Rapido