After an engine blowout last time out at Snetterton, Carl and the team were able to get the bike ready for racing for last weekend’s round at Knockhill. This was round 4 of the Quattro Group British Supersport championship with Carl hoping for no more technical issues and hopeful of gaining his first championship points of the season.
Carl got his round kicked off on Friday morning with the first free practice session of the weekend on a wet track at Knockhill. Carl managed to complete 6 laps in the session with his best lap time coming on his 5th, posting a time of 57.982, and placing him 33rd.
After a short break, the second and last free practice session got underway with the track still wet from the constant rain throughout the day. However, that didn’t seem to bother Carl as he improved his previous time by over a second and a half, posting a 56.370 and placing him in 17th.
Saturday was qualifying day for Carl as he took part in the second session. With better conditions than the Friday practice sessions, Carl was hoping for a massively improved time due to the conditions and was hopeful of getting a good grid position for the first sprint race of the weekend. Carl managed to complete 15 laps with his best qualifying time partway through the session on lap 7. He posted a time of 51.288 and in 26th.
The hectic 20-lap sprint race got underway on Saturday afternoon with the drama starting just before the race. Rain hit the track just before Carl got underway with the race being declared ‘wet’. Despite this, Carl decided to go with slick front and rear tyres as it was dry leading up to the race. As the race started Carl got himself into 18th position, but with the rain coming down hard, it was risky to still be on slick tyres. However, Carl’s lap time kept getting faster and faster. Carl eventually crossed the line in 20th, but with his quick lap times, it meant that he now started 9th on the grid for Sunday’s race.
This is what Carl had to say just prior to Sunday’s race:
“It was an absolutely mega day. It was a gamble on the tyres, so we went with the slicks which wasn’t the best option, but it was good enough for a 20th place result. I was really happy with the race as the lap time I set will put us 9th on the grid for today’s race”.
Sunday was the featured race of the weekend and with Carl starting 9th, it was a great chance to earn his first championship points of the season. Throughout all 22 laps, Carl raced excellently only dropping 3 places and crossing the line in a season best of 12th, earning him 4 points in the championship standings.
We’ll next see Carl in 2 weeks’ time for round 5 of the Quattro Group British Supersport championship, this time taking place at Brands Hatch with the hope of adding more points to his championship standings.