After a strong 7th placed finish last time out at Cadwell Park, Rhys was raring to go coming into the final stretch of the season. Round 8 saw a return to Donington Park in the Pirelli National Sportbike Championship, where Rhys had a mixed time last time out with a 5th and a DNF. However, Rhys was confident of another strong finish to follow on from previous weeks.
Rhys' weekend got underway on Friday with the first free practice session. Rhys managed to find a good rhythm early on posting a time of 1:36.871 in his 5th lap. He completed another 10 laps after but wasn't able to improve anymore meaning a 6th place finish.
After a short break, Rhys got underway in the second and final free practice session of the round where he saw a positive step forward. He managed to complete 17 laps in the session and posting his best time in the penultimate lap. A 1:35.501 placed him in 4th for the session.
Qualifying on Saturday was a different story to Friday. Midway through the session, Rhys' airbag suit deployed unexpectedly, forcing him to return to the pit and change leathers. With limited time left on track, Rhys managed to make the most of it and salvaged 8th on the grid.
The drama carried on into race day on Sunday afternoon. With dry conditions throughout the day the weather turned as Rhys was lining up on the grid. Rain started to fall just before lights out, but the race was given the go-ahead. Unfortunately, on the opening lap, Rhys suffered a high side and went down. The conditions quickly worsened, and with multiple incidents the red flag came out. The race ended up postponed until the end of the day, giving Rhys and the team vital time to repair the bike and for Rhys to be checked and cleared medically fit after his incident.
In the restarted race, Rhys was able to regroup and focused on staying consistent even through the pain. Despite the earlier setback, Rhys was able to put in a strong performance and battled through to finish 5th at the flag.
This finish gave Rhys 16 points to the championship standings, solidifying himself in 7th in the standings and pushing closer to 6th.
This is what he had to say on his weekend:
"It was a tough but ultimately rewarding weekend at Donington Park Racing Circuit in the Bennetts British Superbike Championship The circuit is always unpredictable, and this round proved no different.
It was certainly one of the trickiest weekends I've had this season — from unexpected issues in qualifying to a crash in the race — but we showed resilience, came back fighting, and brought home solid points".
We'll next see Rhys in Assen for round 9 of the Pirelli National Sportbike Championship where he hopes to add more points to his standings and push toward the top 5.