Ducati Trioptions Cup Round 1- Donington Park

BSB kicked the season off with Donington Park, cold April weekend but at least stayed dry. My role as Ducati TriOptions Cup ambassador certainly not easy with 51 competitors all scrabbling to fill the 40 grid places with two races every event.

After qualifying top 30 go through to the main race with the others all competing a last chance qualifying race (LCQ). With top ten from LCQ filling 31-40th on grid, their race went ahead early Saturday afternoon with no dramas.

Late afternoon Race-1 got underway with a great race at the front between Joe Collier, Rob Guiver & Phil Atkinson. Lap-6 the rad flags came out meaning there would be a re-run with the race not reaching 2-thirds distance.

Soon became apparent the red flag had involved quite a few riders with seven not making it back to pit-lane. A mechanical problem caused a six machine crash with two of the guys seriously injured, one sadly not recovering. No more races took place Saturday for obvious reasons, I then sat all involved with the TriOptions Cup down explaining the situation, all decided they wanted to race Sunday with a minutes silence on the grid to remember a great friend to many of them ….. Mick Whalley.

Great to see some of the BSB boys on the grid Sunday paying their resects before a cracking 10 lap race-2, Some great battles all the way down the field with Joe Collier triumphing, closely followed by team mate Jon Railton with Rob Guiver making the podium. Next stop Brands Indy!