This was the second weekend Matt had visited Donington Park to race this year. This was good for the team as we was able to pick up where we left off. As the supersport class does not compete here we was down to one rider.
Fridays Free Practice proved to be a step in the direction that we had hoped for as Matt was able to pick up where he left off and get up to race pace in the early stages of the session. Despite the 37◦C track temperature and sweltering heat, Matt was still able to put his best time in towards the end of the session, putting him in 27th Place. Although there was plenty of room for improvement it was a good start to the weekend.
Saturdays Qualifying however took a turn for the worst. Although Matt had high aspirations with a plan for improvement, his progression was stalled when an unbalanced tyre hindered his lap times. As the session progressed Matt was unable to get any feel from the bike as the front end was juddering violently. Despite this being the case Matt still matched the time from Fridays FP1 session but the lack of improvement put him 31st place on the Grid for Sunday’s back-to-back race.
Matt had a brilliant start to the 100 mile race as by lap 2 he had battled his way up to 23rd place. As the race progressed and the pack fanned out it was harder to jump each gap. By lap 10 we had used up all the good rubber and as Matt started to slow, he was swallowed up dropping back to 27th place. For the restart Matt took his 27th place grid position. This put him at more of an advantage due to his inside positioning on the track. This allowed him to gain places with fewer risks on the entry to the first turn. With new tyres Matt was able to push through the pack and work his way up to 20th place. After an off track excursion on lap 2 at the Foggy Esses he had it all to do again. Nevertheless as the race progressed Matt battled his way up to a respectable 19th place and knocked 1.9 seconds off his personal best.
It was a positive result for the team with yet another top teen finish in the Stock 1000 class. We look forward to the next British Superbike round at Knockhill in just a couple of weeks’ time.
*Held UK are pleased to supply gloves to Wigley racing! For more information on Held in the UK please visit www.held-uk.co.uk
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