A positive penultimate round for Tom Neave at Donington Park
Tom Neave enjoyed a positive round at Donington Park last weekend for the penultimate round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship, scoring further points and gaining vital experience in his rookie Superbike year.
Friday’s practice was interrupted with treacherous weather conditions that saw only one practice session run at Donington Park’s GP track, where Tom finished 16th overall.
With the conditions a stark contrast to those on Friday, Saturday’s schedule ran to plan and Tom was 14th in FP3, as he prepared for SUPERPICKS qualifying. Q1 saw Tom put in a strong performance and he ended the session third fastest behind Tom Sykes and Jason O’Halloran, as well as scoring a new PB at the GP circuit with a 1:29.414 lap time.
Finishing third meant Tom progressed into Q2, which was a first for him this year and where he qualified 15th for the afternoon’s eBay Sprint Race. During the 15-lap sprint Tom gained positions working his way through the pack to finish 13th.
On Sunday a small mistake in the second race cost him a point scoring position as he crashed out, unhurt at Redgate. For the final race Tom was feeling good on his Fireblade machine, but a few small mistakes saw him drop back to 14th place, where he had been running 12th for the majority of the race.
Leaving the tenth round with two point scoring finishes is positive for Tom as he continues to build and learn in his first year racing in the Superbike class, and despite the DNF in the second race it was a strong round at the Leicestershire track.
Tom will now prepare for the final round of the 2022 season, which takes place at Brands Hatch on 14-15-16 October, where he hopes to have a strong finish to the season.
Well that’s another weekend in the books. Firstly I’d like to wish all the best to Chrissy and his family following his crash in race 3 on Sunday. Keep fighting!
Overall it’s been a pretty good weekend for me. It was great to have the support of my personal sponsors Marshall Honda Marshall Motor Group with me this weekend. A new PB in qualifying followed up with 13th in race 1. The bike felt great all weekend, and a stupid mistake cost me another point scoring finish in race 2 with a DNF. We ended the weekend 14th, with a couple of small mistakes costing me the 12th place on the final lap. It’s more experience gained and I can go into the last round feeling positive.
A huge thank you to Honda Racing UK and my side of the garage for working relentlessly for me the last couple rounds. One round to go!
