Will we get a race weekend this year when we’re not constantly checking the weather Apps? In the event we just about got away with it after a monsoon on the Thursday, set up day.

Our second visit of the year to Donington Park is always a highlight of the season. It’s a local round for us so we have lots of family, friends and sponsors’ guests to look after in a party atmosphere. Better still, we know our Completely Motorbikes Kawasaki ZX-10RR Ninjas always go well at Donington. Jason won a thrilling race here earlier in the year and Max always puts in a strong performance.

It’s the penultimate round of the year so the championship contenders are at the top of their game and racing hard. Great for the fans lining the circuit and TV audience.

Free Practice

Although the weekend was mostly dry, we were greeted by a drying track for the first practice session which started mid-morning Friday, a couple of hours earlier than usual. Most of the riders started on wet weather tyres, some then ran on intermediaries and a few tried slicks on the drying line towards the end of the session – as we did. In effect, the weekend started in the afternoon on a dry track, allowing the riders to get down to pushing hard to check out how their bikes were working.

It certainly wasn’t going to plan when Jason joined the Craner Curves Club on his sixth lap. First flying lap on his second run – usual cause of a crash there is the left side of the tyre not being fully up to temperature. The crashes there are notorious as it’s a steep downhill section and usually make a mess of the bike. Jason was fine but the mechanics were up until 10 o’clock rebuilding his bike. His and our first proper Craner’s crash!

Didn’t go much better for Max. Although he didn’t crash, he ‘exceeded track limits’ entering Foggy’s Esses on a number of occasions. No idea why and it didn’t happen again over the weekend. Deleted lap times for the infringements left him all the way back in P17 when one of the lost laps would have placed him around eighth fastest and through to Q2. After the crash, Jason was left P21. Both would have to go through Q1 again as they weren’t in the ‘Fast 12’ who automatically go through to the second stage of race one qualifying.

Qualifying

Decent ten-minute warm up runs in FP3. As we were out of position after Friday’s free practice sessions, it wasn’t too surprising that Jason and Max came through Q1 in P1 and P2 on almost identical lap times and 0.3 clear. The fastest three join Q2 but handicapped by running on the tyres they’ve just used to get through.

Jason P12 and Max P14 wasn’t what we’d hoped for or expected. Jason’s best lap was 0.5 slower than he achieved in his Superpole qualifying run earlier in the year (although his time was later deleted for a marginal track limits infringement!). Max matched his time from the previous Donington round.

Qualifying on the front two rows is really important as we all know just how tough and competitive a BSB race is around Donington. Our problems in free practice meant we were definitely on the back foot.

Race One

20 laps around Donington makes for a long and hard race. Rollo on the lower specification ‘Pathway’ bike managed to sneak ahead of Jason and Max on lap one. Max soon repassed him – and Jason too – to settle into P12, battling with McConnell, with Jason close behind. With the leaders already away up the road, that’s how it stayed until McConnell gifted us his position by running low on fuel on the final lap! Max P12 and Jason P13 – both a disappointingly long way back from the full-on race action at the front.

Race Two

Sunday morning warm up and Max had an encouraging run on worn tyres, recording his best time of the weekend so far. Jason was a bit further back. His hand injuries from Thruxton were all but healed and his bike set up was as close as makes no real difference to how it was for his race win at round three, but he couldn’t replicate the pace he had shown earlier in the year.

Based on their race one lap times, Jason lined up P12 and Max P13 for the 12 lap Sprint race. Again, making progress would be a tough proposition. Jason made a place dicing with Jackson while Max held station through lap one. Jackson moved back ahead while Max was looking for a way past Jason which he found on lap six. Max made progress getting past Brookes for P10 and closing on Iddon and Jackson – the three of them covered by 0.6 at the line. Max was gifted a place again as Vickers suffered a three second penalty for a track limits violation. P9 was a reasonable return for a hard race in the second group, five or six seconds behind the leaders. At the back of the group, Jason didn’t benefit from the Vickers penalty – P12.

Race Three

Final race – another 20-lap feature. Weather still dry, if chilly. Max starting from P11, Jason P13. Max managed to pass Jackson on lap one and hooked on to the leading group of 10 riders, just behind his mate Charlie Nesbitt. A couple of laps later Iddon ran wide and then the pressure Max was putting on Haslam under braking paid off as he ran wide letting Max through to P8. Closing in on the leaders, Max was able to make up time on the brakes and especially on the run down the hill through Craner Curves. After two laps in the high 1.27 bracket – almost matching the leaders – he was just 2.2 back at half distance. It hadn’t gone so well for Jason who was five seconds further back in P14, racing a recovering Iddon.

By lap 18 Ryde, Kent and Vickers had broken free on their Yamahas. Max was still P8, right with Nesbitt, ready to strike, and still just a second behind Bridewell. At last, Max was showing his early season form, running comfortably with the leaders. Then the red flag came out to end the race. Jason had been involved in a horror crash exiting the Melbourne Loop hairpin. McConnell lost the rear and went down and Iddon, right with him, was collected by the fallen bike and rider. Brookes just managed to miss the melee as he swerved to the right. Jason was unsighted and as Brookes moved, he had nowhere to go and t-boned a stricken bike and flew over the bars.

Nasty, nasty crash. Jason was clearly in a lot of pain but thankfully it wasn’t a serious as we first thought. Hits to his wrist, ankle and helmet – luckily no concussion – were not too bad but stretched ligaments in his shoulder were more of a worry. Fortunately, Jason didn’t need to go to hospital, but he will be suffering this week as the bruising comes out.

A bittersweet end to a difficult weekend. Max managed to show his true pace and the strengths of our Kawasaki on the brakes and the fast-flowing sections. Horrible ending for Jason but a least no really serious injury.

Championship Standings

Kyle Ryde at the top and Tommy Bridewell are separated by just 4 points going into Brands Hatch. With 35 points on offer for a win at the final round, Glenn Irwin is still in the game a further 46 points back. It’s all to play for.

Not quite so good for us this year. After top four finishes in 2022 and 2023, we’re out of the reckoning with Jason P11 and Max P13. Still, we have three more goes at it at Brands Hatch to try and finish on a high.

Next Time

Max is looking forward to racing at Brands again but at the moment there has to be a question mark over Jason’s fitness. He’ll be assessed by the medical staff on the Thursday before the action starts.

Whatever happens in our garage, let’s hope for some decent weather. A warm autumn weekend on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit is as good as it gets!

Hope to see you there.

Regards. Nigel. Team Principal.