We didn't have to fly to Round 2 of the bLU cRU Cup as it was home at Donington Park! I had good results in the British Championship here, however, we knew it would be a challenge! After struggling for setup at Misano, we managed to put the settings from last year into the bike as we knew how the bike should behave and would have something to work on.
FP - P22
It was amazing to come out of pit lane knowing where I was going! This showed straight away as I was instantly around the top 10, however, I hit a glass ceiling and was struggling to up my lap time by doing some fundamental things differently to the Europeans seeing the track for the first time.
QP - P20
We made some small setup changes in between sessions and I tweaked some things on track, which gained us some time but only left us in P20. After seeing some data and doing a track walk, we found the areas that we were losing time that we were hoping to transfer into the races the next day...
Race 1 - P13
In classic UK fashion, rain fell overnight and left Race 1 wet. Track knowledge came to my advantage as I knew where the grip would be in those conditions meaning I avoided a lot of early crashes. In the early stages of the race I found an immediate setup issue that stopped me being able to carry speed into corners, so I prioritised getting good exits although by this point I had lost some ground. In the last 5 laps I strung incredibly consistent lap times and gained back the ground I had lost, then pounced to get P13 on the last lap, just running out of time to get P12 - scoring my first bLU cRU European Cup points!
Race 2 - P14
Luckily it had dried out for Race 2, where I had been bumped up to P19 on the grid after a rider didn't make it to the grid from a crash in Race 1. I made a decent start but was not aggressive enough and found myself on the tail end of the pack after the opening laps. I put in a fast lap and caught the group, carrying an obvious pace advantage. In my initial attempts at overtaking, I was getting boxed in the inside and riders would stay on the outside and keep the position. I was much better through the fast corners and carrying my speed onto the straights, shown by the fact that I topped the speed trap, although I struggled in the last 2 hairpins and would lose the positions I gained. I made a move into the last corner on one lap to stay in the middle of the group and lost the front, just about saving it and not losing too much time. Again my lap times were incredibly consistent, and I had the pace to be at the front of the group battling for the top 10, but I couldn’t make a move stick and that meant I couldn’t make my way through the group. I came away with another points finish which I was really happy with, but I know my aggression isn’t up to scratch in this field.
We had an advantage coming into this weekend being 1 of only 2 riders who knew the track, but it was still a struggle, however we made a big step by changing the setup and the bike now feels like my own, which should hopefully put us in good stead for Assen in a couple weeks time! We also learned some new techniques that the front pack are doing that make a big difference to lap times, but this that will take time and practice to learn. Now I'm looking forward to riding the Cathedral of Speed for the first time!
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