Dan’s Blog: Round 1 review

“Hi everyone.

It was a very positive weekend at Silverstone for round one of the British Superbikes series.

On Friday myself and the team concentrated on finding a set-up which would allow me to make further steps forward. The iForce BMW was really starting to feel like my own as I ticked off the laps. Ending day one in 22nd was good, just 1.1 seconds off the top spot!

Saturday morning we made a change which helped massively, instantly I dropped 0.3 off my lap time. This gave me a lot of confidence heading in to Q1.

Q1 was probably the most talked about session of the weekend, I managed to knock 0.5 off my lap time. This put me 4th and just 0.3 off 1st in Q1! It was a surprise to the whole paddock to see my name in that top 4, ahead of former world champions!

Q2 didn’t quite go as well, I slipped off at the tail end of Q1 and it cause some bike issues so I wasn’t able to set a competitive lap time. This meant I would start 18th for race one, which I’m still buzzing about being my first weekend on the superbike!

Race one was good, I set in to a rhythm following some really experienced riders. I stayed with them the whole race and learnt a lot, crossing the line in 21st! A very respectable result for my first ever race.

Unfortunately race two is one to discount, I got taken out by another rider at just the second corner. This also meant I was unable to set a lap time so would start race three from last!

From last to 22nd, I had a brilliant race fighting with some big names. 30 laps of that track is gruesome, but very enjoyable. I learnt a lot throughout the race which I can take forward with me.

Overall, I’m really happy with how the weekend went, I showed glimpses of what I am capable of. It will take time to understand the races more but that’s all in due course.

Thank you to all my loyal sponsors who are making my dream a reality, I’m loving every second of it!

See you all soon,

DJ“