Over the weekend Rhys was back out on the track for round 6 of the Pirelli National Sportbike Championship, this time at Thruxton.
The first free practice session got underway on Friday morning, where Rhys was struggling with a few bike changes, but still managing to come in P7 and only 1.6 seconds behind the leader. After a short break free practice 2 got underway where Rhys was still having the same issues but managed to cut the gap to the leader to 1.2 seconds and came in P6.
Rhys made a change going into qualifying Saturday morning which seemed to fix the issues from the previous day. Rhys managed 17 laps, again knocking a second off of his times in practice and coming in under a second slower than the leader in P6.
As the first race of the weekend got underway on Saturday afternoon, Rhys got off to a fast start and with the issues fixed, he was managing to keep up with the front runners. However, Rhys couldn’t quite get past those in front of him and came over the line in P7.
Race 2 was filled with much more drama, after an early red flag stopping the race, Rhys got off a fast restart and instantly was with the group in front. Rhys was sitting in P6 going into the last lap but a crash involving the 3 leaders put Rhys into P3 which is where he crossed the line. However, the winner of the race was hit with a time penalty, promoting Rhys to second place and only 0.4 seconds behind the eventual winner.
This is what Rhys had to say on the practice and qualifying sessions:
“I was looking forward to the Thruxton round, it’s my favourite track of the season. I had a few setup and grip issues during FP1 & FP2 and managed to finish a combined 6th place.
For qualifying we had made a big change to hopefully iron out the issue I was having. This change improved my lap times by 1.1 seconds per lap, qualifying in 6th place”.
Rhys then went on to say:
“In the first race, I got a good start off the line and my new settings allowed me to stay with the front group, taking in all that was going on in front of me and learning all the time, finishing in 7th place.
Starting in 7th place for race 2, I started ok, but a red flag stopped the session. At the restart I managed a better start and stayed with the front group, being closer, I was hoping to make some moves on the riders in front of me, but they seemed to have a slight edge, but I kept chipping away. The last lap ended very dramatically, even though it was very much a case of luck and being in the right place at the right time, I was on the podium for the first time this season. I was over the moon and wasn’t expecting it”.
These finishes for Rhys over the weekend boosted his points total in the championship standings up to 88. This keeps Rhys in 8th but has massively caught up to the top 5 and is now in touching distance with only 4 rounds left to go.
We’ll see Rhys out on the track very soon as the next round of the Pirelli National Sportbike Championship takes place on the 24th– 26th of August at Cadwell Park.