After a couple of weeks off for Rhys, it was time for round 3 of the Pirelli National Sportbike Championship at Knockhill.

Rhys got the weekend off to a good start in both practice sessions despite battling tricky wet conditions and also suspension issues with the bike. In the first practice session, Rhys managed a P5, only 2 seconds behind the leader. The second practice session was a similar story, with Rhys coming in P7 but again, only coming 2 seconds behind the leader.

Going into qualifying the weather had picked up and Rhys was confident of posting a good time ready for race 1. Rhys’ best time came in at 00:53:025 seconds, just 1.5 seconds slower than the leader meaning a P9 finish.

As the first race of the weekend got underway Rhys made a fast start and jumped into 7th battling with a group for 3rd to 6th. As the rain started to fall heavier going into lap 7, a collision in front of Rhys caused him to go into a fallen bike but still managed to stay upright. As Rhys carried on to make up for the lost time, he realised that he had completely lost his brakes going into turn one and had to bail off of the bike. Thankfully, Rhys came away from it relatively unscathed but his weekend was over.

This is what Rhys made of his race: “Race one I was feeling positive and ready to go, I got a good start and moved into 7th place then battling with a group for 3rd to 6th. On lap 6 I fell back to 9th as the rain started to fall heavier, The following lap 4 of riders in front of me went into the final corner together, I could see it wasn’t going to end well, just didn’t know it would be me that came off worse”.

He then went on to say: “A rider did fall, unfortunately, I had nowhere to go and collided with the fallen bike, I kept mine upright and managed to get going again, pressing on fast to make up for lost time I reach my breaking point at turn one, only to find I had no brakes, I had no choice but to bail off the bike.

It turns out that in the collision with the fallen bike, my brake disc had been bent. I had checked brakes before carrying on, but my journey down the start-finish straight with a bent disc must have pushed the brake pads apart rendering the brakes useless when I needed them the most”.

Hopefully, Rhys can get his bike fixed in time ready for round 4 at Snetterton on the 5th of July.