After a strong 8th place finish last time out at Snetterton, Rhys was back out on the track over the weekend, this time in Fife, Scotland at the Knockhill circuit for round 4 of the Pirelli National Sportbike championship. Rhys will be hoping to add to his championship points tally of 46 to solidify himself in the top 10, but with bad weather forecast, mixed with an already tough track, it was a big challenge ahead.
The first free practice session for Rhys got underway on Friday morning with the hope of posting some good times as well as collecting some data. However, things didn’t quite go to plan. With the track being very damp, Rhys was unable to get properly settled in his set-up and struggled to get to his top speed. Despite this, Rhys still managed 23 laps and came in 10th with a time of 56.471.
After a lengthy break, Rhys was back out for the second free practice on Friday afternoon, and with the rain lashing down, the track was soaked. Having not ridden in fully wet conditions since last season, it was a big challenge to find any sort of speed with nothing clicking into place. Rhys ended up managing 22 laps with his best time being 59.315, placing him 8th.
First up on the Saturday came the qualifying sessions. There was also a welcome change to the conditions, with a dry track giving Rhys some much-needed confidence. Rhys showed good speed early on which he kept building on throughout. Later on in the session, Rhys was able to get behind some faster riders and use the slipstream to give him a personal best time of 52.515, beating his best from last year. He ended 4th in his session and qualified 10th overall.
Saturday evening saw the first race of the weekend with Rhys lining up on the grid in 10th. Rhys fought hard for positioning early on with his start not being the best. Disaster then struck for Rhys, as going into the final corner, he got rear-ended, forcing him to retire from the race and injuring his leg in the process.
Sunday ended up being a huge mental battle for Rhys, with his body not cooperating after yesterday’s crash and the track back to being wet, the second race of the weekend was all about finishing and regaining some of his confidence. Starting from 33rd, it was going to be hard for Rhys to make progress and attack the course like he normally does. However, Rhys did make a huge push, jumping 16 places and finishing in 17th.
As the third and final race of the weekend came around, Rhys was able to adapt to the conditions and also the pain he had been fighting through. Starting the race in 21st, Rhys managed to find some rhythm mid-way through the race, managing to claw his way up the leaderboard and dig deep for a 14th-placed finish.
Despite everything Rhys had to battle through, he still managed to gain 2 championship points and remain in the top 10 heading to the mid-way stage of the season.
This is what Rhys had to say on his weekend:
“It wasn’t the weekend I wanted — crashing out and struggling physically wasn’t part of the plan. But it was a weekend that taught me something more valuable than a podium ever could: resilience. Sometimes, finishing the race is the biggest win”.
We will hopefully see a fully fit and firing Rhys in 2 weeks’ time for round 5 of the Pirelli National Sportbike championship.