New rules, new line-up and a new session greeted Brands Hatch this Easter Bank Holiday weekend. With the new Evolution class running in the main BSB Championship, over 33 superbikes lined up for 30 laps around the 1.2 mile Kent circuit for the first BSB outing of the 2010 calendar.
PR Racing rider and BSB rookie, Luke Jones made a good start to both of the day’s races. The former 125 champion held his own on the tarmac as he battled with seasoned veterans around the fast turns of Paddock Hill Bend and Clearways.
Race One, lap 11 saw Jones lose four places and a points' scoring position, as an accidental red flag was shown for two seconds at Paddock Hill bend due to the Suzuki engine of Michael Laverty giving way, but a flawless performance from the young rider from Herefordshire in his debut in Superbikes saw him finish in 17th place just outside the points.
Race Two saw the new grid rules take effect, which found Luke starting from P20 in a strong 34 grid line up. Another good start from Luke in race two saw him mid-pack early on. After a couple of laps of settling in, then being constantly hard pressed, he answered the pressure and held his own to cross the finish line an excellent 12th place, and more importantly gaining four championship points.
After the second race Luke commented, ”This weekend has been one of the steepest learning curves in my life. Not only have I had to learn how to ride a superbike, but I have suffered with ‘arm-pump’, as well as dealing with one of the biggest blisters on my left hand I have ever seen. The whole weekend has been fantastic, I have not stopped smiling from the time we unloaded the truck on Thursday until the end of the second race.”
On the race result he added. “I came here with a game plan, which was to learn the bike and gather as much data as possible. To have qualified in the top 20 and then finish 17th and 12th was something I did not imagine from my first ever outing. I would like to thank the team for all their support and hard work on putting together such a great bike.”
On this weekend’s performance John Jameson, team principal added,” Due to receiving parts late for the bike we have not had the development time the team would have liked leading up to the first meeting. However, from the start of this weekend, Luke has shown great potential, particularly when running in the wet during free practice, where he finished in the top 10 for both sessions and was running P2 for most of the first session. We are very pleased with Luke’s attitude and professionalism. I believe Luke has the right pedigree to be a star in the future.”
End.
