J&S Supported Rider results - Round 10 Donington

Hi everyone, and welcome back to the round-up of the action from the British Superbike Championship and support series for the J&S supported riders.

Over the past weekend, the action came from Donington Park, but this time on the longer GP circuit. One word sums up the weather over the weekend in the Midlands, WET!!! Well, two words really, COLD and WET.

In Junior Superstock, cloudy and wet conditions greeted the riders for qualifying. With Caolan Irwin and Louis Valleley venturing out to see what sort of times they could set for the all-important session. Caolan managed to qualify in 11th place, with Louis behind in 14th.

In the race on Sunday, bright and dry conditions were a blessing for the whole field, Louis came home in 10th place whilst Caolan had a DNF.

Next time, two more races out in the Junior Superstock class, so all is not lost for the J&S backed riders.

Junior Supersport up next, and teammates Zak Shelton and Christopher Johnson were in action. Zak had the better result in qualifying with an excellent 4th place starting position. Christopher was down in 16th, but not all was lost for the Evergreen riders.

Race one and Zak had a DNF by the end of the first lap. Meanwhile, Christopher managed to stay upright in a race where only 19 riders finished. He crossed the line in 8th place.

The second race saw the fortunes reversed for the teammates, with Christopher having the DNF next to his name and Zak coming home in 9th place.

The Honda talent cup now was the last weekend of action for the young riders in this class. Sullivan Mounesy was looking to end his season on a high. Sullivan had a good qualifying session and would start the first race of the weekend in 8th position.

The first race saw Sullivan miss out on a top 10th finish by coming home in 11th place. Then, unfortunately, Sullivan had a DNF in the season's final race after crashing out at the last corner on the opening lap of the race.

Sullivan still finished the championship in 9th place overall with a total of 110 points. Scoring points in all but six races and even a 2nd place isn't the wrong way to end a championship!!

Superstock 1000, and Billy McConnell mastered the conditions the best and put his BMW on pole for the first race of the weekend. Lewis Rollo qualified in 9th with Fraser Rogers in 15th and Luke Mossey having difficulty down in 17th.

The first on Saturday was wet and a matter of who was the bravest and wanted to push the most to find the grip on a wet track. Fraser was unlucky to have a DNF but did well at the start of the race to avoid being taken out by another rider and was forced to take avoiding action and ended up at the back of the field. Billy also fell victim to the conditions after crashing whilst in second place and pushing for the lead. Luke Mossey made his way through the field and collected a handful of places to cross the line in 10th place. But it was Lewis Rollo who led near enough the whole race after taking the lead on lap three and seemed to revel in the wet conditions and have a gap of almost 8 seconds at one point during the race. However, Lewis backed off towards the end of the race, took it steady, and came home for the win.

The second race of the weekend saw Lewis have a turn of luck and a DNF next to his name. Luke faired much better and came home in 7th place to maintain his position in the top 5 of the championship. However, Fraser Rogers had a much better race and went through the field to 6th after starting from 16th on the grid. But it was Aussie Billy McConnell who once again stood on the podium after taking a solid 2nd place and only missed out on the race win by 0.4 of a second after battling with Taylor Mackenzie.

The championship is close but still within reach for Billy, who sits 22 points behind the leader, with only one race remaining!!

British Supersport up next and as many classes over the weekend, wet weather was the order for the day for qualifying and the first race in the 600cc class. As a result, Dan Jones had to start from pit lane for the weekend's first race. Rhys Irwin would start from 13th on the grid, but Ben Currie had a clear view of the first turn after putting his Kawasaki on the front row in 2nd place.

The race saw riders crashing at most points during the race, Ben Currie was lucky not to be taken out by his teammate as he crashed, but Ben had a crash of his own and tucked the front end whilst braking in a straight line for the Foggy chicane, believe it or not, that was Ben's first DNF of the season. Dan Jones had a crash and saw his run of podiums come to an end. Rhys Irwin managed to keep upright and come home in 5th overall.

The weekend's second race saw much better results for all the J&S supported riders, Rhys came home in 8th overall in the Supersport standings, and Dan Jones was back on the podium in the GP2 standings with a solid 3rd place. In addition, Ben Currie got his championship hunt back on track with a 2nd place overall and now sits 2nd in the championship and 34 points behind the championship leader with two races at the final round of the season.

Superbike and the main class now a welcome return to action for Joe Francis, who was back aboard a BMW but this time with the FHO racing team and Peter Hickman as his teammate. Joe had a great qualifying and started the first race from 7th on the grid, meanwhile. On the front row saw Glenn Irwin start from 3rd on the grid, but it was Gino Rea who sprung a surprise not for the first time over the weekend and put his Suzuki on pole position for the first time this season!

The first race saw only 15 riders finish. One of the casualties was Glenn Irwin, who lost the front like many others whilst breaking for the Foggy chicane. However, Joe held on to cross the line in 6th place and his best result of the season for his new team. But it was Gino Rea who mastered the tricky conditions the best and claimed his first BSB win, not only the first win for Gino and the Suzuki team but also set the fastest lap of the race to start the second race from pole position too!!

The second race saw Joe retire with a technical problem. Glenn had a much better race this time out and came home with a solid 10th place finish. Gino made the holeshot at the start of the race and was always within touch of the leading group, which was whittled down to four riders. Gino only just missed out on another podium but finished in a brilliant 4th place.

The third and final race of the weekend saw a hectic start as the warm-up lap was started under dry conditions but then drops of rain in certain parts of the track caused race direction to delay the start to see if any more rain was due. Whist the riders were on the grid, a downpour started, so it was a mad rush to change tyres, setups and visors from dark to clear for optimal vision. So a wet race was declared, and service was resumed. By the time the race started, blue skies had appeared over the track, but the track was drenched and soaking all the way around.

By the time the race had finished, Joe had another solid race and came home in 9th place and another top 10 finish, an excellent weekend for Joe and his new team. Glenn pulled into pit lane on the warm-up lap and then had to start from pit lane. He managed to work his way through the pack to come home in 10th place. Gino Rea made a great start from 3rd on the grid and was into the lead of the race halfway through the first lap. Once again, it was a testing and nervous time, but concentration was a must, and the slightest mistake could spell disaster. But Gino held on to take another race win!! So two race wins and a 4th place for Gino over the weekend goes to show the talent he has, and on any day, he can mix it right at the front of an ever-competitive field.

So that's it from me for now. The final round of the championship comes from Brands Hatch again but the longer GP circuit. So it comes down to the last three races to see who will be crowned the 2021 Superbike champion.  The race weekend starts on Friday 15th until Sunday 17th October.

So until then, thanks for reading.

Danny