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Danny Kent took his best result of the year at the 2022 Bennetts British Superbike season finale at Brands Hatch this weekend, finishing sixth in race two on his Buildbase Suzuki GSX-R1000R.
Kent had showed promise all weekend, and was seventh quickest on the combined times after practice before qualifying in 10th. He followed up with an eighth place finish in Saturday’s eBay sprint race.
His best result of the year came in the first of Sunday’s races, when he was classified in sixth place, just half a second off fourth. The final race of the year saw him get away with the leading group, and he held fifth for the early stages. He ended up fighting new champion Bradley Ray for sixth, but was pushed back to eighth by Josh Brookes in the final stages.
The result capped a season that’s had its fair share of highs and lows, which included a serious injury at Donington Park earlier in the year. However, despite the setbacks, progress has always been the name of the game for the former Moto3 world champion, as he continued to gain experience in the superbike class.
Danny Kent, “This weekend was 100% the best we’ve had this year. Two eighths and a sixth is not where we were aiming to be but with the season we’ve had, some of the bad luck, I think we can be pleased with the results and the pace we had. Over the last four rounds we’ve really started to find a setup and a setting for the bike that works for me and we’ve slowly been able to improve our results. It’s been a difficult season and overall the results haven’t been what we were hoping, but it’s not through lack of trying. I’d like to say a big thank you to the team and sponsors for the hard work this year.”
Christian Iddon showed his grit and determination to race through the pain barrier at Brands Hatch, and came away with a seventh and a ninth. He was fighting his teammate inside the top 10 in Saturday’s sprint race, but was taken out on the final lap.
Much like his teammate, Kent, it’s been an up and down year, with any progress always seemingly undone by bad luck. As he and the team made progress early in the year he suffered a freak injury at Knockhill. Bouncing back, things began to improve again and he qualified on pole at Snetterton, only to miss out on a podium with a brake issue, before retiring and being taken out in the final race at the Norfolk circuit.
Not to be kept down, he bounced back again, only to be taken out of the podium fight at Oulton Park, suffering another injury in the process. He missed the penultimate round but at the season finale he highlighted how tough and determined he is when the visor goes down.
Christian Iddon, “It was a difficult weekend. We lost FP1 with a technical issue and we were always playing catchup. My hand wasn’t as bad as I was expecting, but it wasn’t 100%. I struggled getting into the positions I wanted to, certainly in left-handers. I didn’t feel very sharp, but I can’t use it as a complete excuse. Qualifying was terrible, I had a strange feeling with the tyre but from 21st on the grid I felt quite racey in the sprint race. I think we were up 10th or around there and I was just looking to bring the bike home and got taken 0ut on the last lap which was frustrating, and kind of resembles our season, really; every time we felt like we were making progress and improving something would knock us back, either something I did, technical issues, or other riders. In the last two races we were just missing a couple of tenths and I didn’t have a great feeling from the front, I think due the missed practice time, so I was overworking the rear to compensate, but we managed a couple of top 10s despite the issues. It’s been a tough couple of weeks, a difficult season, but that’s how it goes sometimes.”
Race one result: 1. Glenn Irwin, 2. Peter Hickman, 3. Andrew Irwin, 8. Danny Kent, DNF. Christian Iddon
Race two result: 1. Peter Hickman, 2. Danny Buchan, 3. Glenn Irwin, 6. Danny Kent, 7. Christian Iddon
Race three result: 1. Glenn Irwin, 2. Andrew Irwin, 3. Danny Buchan, 8. Danny Kent, 9. Christian Iddon
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