Round 6 - Double Podium & We are Gaining!!
The roar of Silverstone's MotoGP round still echoed in my ears as we hit the road to Thruxton. The podium finish, the electrifying energy of the GP paddock, that special John Cresswell helmet livery – it was a weekend of pure adrenaline! Reuniting with my old team and that fierce new bike, we proved we're back in the fight. Aggressive passes, the burning desire to lead... I'm back, baby, and better than ever. The hunger for Thruxton is real. Buckle up, because this ride is just getting started!
Thruxton has always been more of a difficult track for me, so I made sure to prepare more than any other track. This track is unlike anything else in the world, on the telemetry, I am on the throttle for 82% of the lap! Compared to other circuits, this is almost unheard of. After the BTC track walk and an evening chat with Coach Torres, I was more than ready to start FP1 in the morning. The first session of the weekend went amazing. The feeling with the bike was unreal and the track came to me very quickly. I wanted to make a couple tweaks to the set up to improve the set up slightly. After a P3 finish in FP1, I wanted work on more sections by myself without the draft so when it came to race time, I wasn’t only relying on the draft for the lap time. FP2 was another strong session, and I was able to improve in the slower areas and still put up a fast lap time. After a bit of debriefing with the team and putting our heads together for a qualifying strategy, I was more than ready to begin qualifying in the morning.
Thruxton is a very big drafting track, so you need some sort of draft to put up a competitive lap time. With that in mind, I wanted to put in a solid banker and then find a group to steal the draft and get a good lap time. After I pulled into the pits the team let me out a bit early, which caused me to wait for the group to come by, and it cooled the tires down. When the group came by, I struggled to make the most out of being in the group. Still a solid session and I was starting P5 on the grid for race one.
Going into race time, I knew I was very strong in the areas that don’t need the draft, and particularly quick toward the mid to end of the lap. So, in the race I wanted to try and stay towards the front of the group and control the race. A new wildcard this weekend saw Marco Morelli in the class for the weekend. He leads the ETC championship and is a multi-time race winner in the rookies cup. He’s an incredible rider and I wanted to learn as much as possible from him.
When the lights went out, I had a great start and made my way into the top 3 just behind Morelli. After Morelli got to the front he immediately pushed the pace and stretched the field out. After I saw Morelli starting to pull away, I wanted to get to the front of the group and go with him. Everyone in our group started to panic a bit and we lost Morelli because we started to fight within the group. After Morelli pulled away, I settled down and pushed for the fight for P2. About mid race, 2 of my rivals in the championship collided right in front of me and pushed me wide going into the last chicane. I was just able to keep it on track but there were about 2.5 secs to the group now. This fire built up and I knew I didn’t have too much time to catch them. I pushed like hell and within two laps I was back in the group before starting the penultimate lap. I waited for the last lap to push towards the front of the group and waited for the two ahead of me to make a mistake and that is exactly what they did. One of them carried too much speed into the chicane and I took advantage and dragged them to the line for P3.
I was very pleased with the podium; I knew there was more in it if the incident didn’t happen but a podium is a podium and it’s good points for the championship. Even with the podium though, I was still not entirely satisfied because Morelli had pulled away and beat us by a remarkable 11 secs. Immediately after the podium, I sat down and watched the race to see if I could learn anything from Marco on the tv. I noticed something’s he was doing differently and knew what to try in warm up.
Warm up on Sunday morning went well, P2 but more importantly, I had tried the things I learned from Marco, and it made a huge difference. Now it was time to showcase them in the race. Race 2 I was starting P4, so I had a direct outside line to inside for turn 2.
The lights went out and I had another good start, going through turn 1 I was involved in a bit of contact, but a little touching never hurt anyone right lol. We settled into a very fast rhythm very early and kept Marco back from pulling away. The changes I made with my riding were very apparent and my passes and my overall riding were much more aggressive. We kept Marco at bay till about half race distance and he tried to pull away. He pulled just over 8 tenths and when I saw that I had to get to the front of the group, I did just that. I was gaining on Marco, but I was getting drafted passed on the long back straight into the last complex of corners which was messing up the rhythm and Marco was pulling away more. Unfortunately, there was a red flag towards the end of the penultimate lap, and I had crossed the line in P3. If the red flag was a lap before then I would’ve been P2, but a double podium weekend is just what I needed. I was so happy to be back on the podium and now it was 3 times in the last 4 so we’re showing the fight is back and I can put on a late charge for this title.
A massive shoutout to everyone who made this new program possible. It feels incredible to be back where I belong, surrounded by MY team, the trust rebuilt stronger than ever. The camaraderie, the laughs, the podium finishes – it's a winning combination.
A quick pit stop at home, and then it's off to Spain to sharpen those skills. Oulton and Donington, get ready, because we're coming in hot! Thank you all for the unwavering support. Let's finish this season with a bang!
