Rhys kicked off his 2025 season at Oulton Park, Cheshire, in the first round of the Pirelli National Sportbike Championship. This is Rhys’ second season competing in the championship, and he is hoping to build on his 8th-place championship finish from last season. However, Rhys will face tougher opposition this time out with the field of the Pirelli National Sportbike increased to nearly 60 riders.
Rhys’s weekend got underway on Saturday morning in the first of 2 free practice sessions. Having made a fast start and feeling good on his bike, Rhys managed to complete 14 laps in the session and setting the fastest lap-time and topping the leaderboard with a time of 1:42.624.
After a great first session and a break, Rhys got his second and last free practice session on Saturday evening. Rhys replicated his earlier session, once again topping the leaderboard and setting the fastest lap on his final lap of the session. Rhys posted a time of 1:42.312, beating his previous best time by under half a second.
Rhys was next on the track on Sunday evening for qualifying, hoping for a similar outcome to Saturday. On the 7th lap, Rhys posted a time of 1:41.767, which would end up being his best time and also the best time in the field. Rhys topped the leaderboard and secured pole position for the first race of the season.
Feeling confident going into the first race of the season, Rhys didn’t get off to the best start, dropping a few places off the line but managing to stay with the leaders. Rhys managed to stay with the front-runners all the way through, even setting the best lap-time of the race on lap 9. However, a few slight mistakes still meant an impressive 3rd place podium finish for Rhys and 20 points towards the championship standings.
This is what Rhys had to say on his fantastic round:
“Knowing the competition would be tough again this year, I expected to be running around fifth place initially. However, as I rolled out for Free Practice One, the bike felt great, and the laps flowed effortlessly. I ended up topping both free practice sessions and qualifying—securing pole position for the first race of the season, which was beyond my expectations!
During the race, I lost a couple of positions off the line but stayed right with the leaders, fully intending to make my way back. Unfortunately, a small mistake set me back just a little too far to recover in time. Nonetheless, I was thrilled to secure a third-place podium finish and even set a lap record for good measure.
I was really pleased with how the bike felt—everything seemed to click perfectly. Now, I can’t wait for the next meeting in just over a week’s time”.
We’ll next see Rhys next week at Donnington Park in round two of the Pirelli National Sportbike Championship. Rhys will be hoping to add to his points made at Oulton with another successful weekend next time out.