After an excellent podium finish last time out at Thruxton, Rhys was hoping to follow it up at his home round at Cadwell Park in round 7 of the Pirelli National Sportbike championship.
Rhys got his round underway on Saturday morning in the first free practice session. It was on his 6th lap of the track that he set his best time of the session, coming in at 1:34.179. He did try to better the time, but unfortunately, on Rhys’s 8th lap, he had a crash, forcing him to stop his session short, but thankfully, he was unhurt. His time was good enough to place him 10th and in touching distance of the leaders.
Things started to click in the second free practice session on Saturday afternoon for Rhys as he found a good rhythm and pace around a tricky Cadwell layout. He managed to complete 14 laps in the session, with his best coming on lap 12 and a time of 1:33.018, shaving off just over a second from earlier and placing him in 5th.
Sunday morning meant it was time for qualifying, and once again it wasn’t without its challenges. With there being 38 riders on the track, it made it difficult for Rhys to find a clean lap due to the amount of traffic throughout the track. Despite this, Rhys still posted a time of 1:33.087 and will start 9th on the grid for Monday’s race.
With it being a bank holiday, there was a change of schedule with the main race of the weekend being on the Monday. With Cadwell being such a tricky track to overtake on, Rhys found it difficult to move forward throughout the race. However, on lap 3, Rhys made some progress getting past 2 riders in front and into 7th. Rhys would eventually cross the line in 7th, meaning more valuable championship points and making up for an early setback on Saturday. It earned Rhys 12 points in the standings, pushing him up into 8th and in touching distance of those above him.
This is what Rhys had to say on his home-town round at Cadwell:
“A weekend of highs, lows, and plenty of learning at Cadwell Park for the latest round of the British Superbike Championship. Overall, it was a decent weekend – not without its challenges – but to leave Cadwell with good pace, a strong top ten finish, and more points in the bag is something to build on heading into the next round at Donington Park”.
We’ll next see Rhys in a week’s time as he heads into the last 3 races of the season, with Donington Park the destination for round 8 of the Pirelli National Sportbike championship.