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A familiar tale of of tyre life troubles plagued the Buildbase Suzuki team at Thruxton for the sixth round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship, with the results sheets not accurately portraying the pace and potential both Danny Kent and Christian Iddon had this weekend.
Kent – at the scene of his maiden BSB podium in 2021 – was consistently well inside the top-10 on Friday, before qualifying in 10th on Saturday. Disappointed with his fourth row grid spot and confident he had the pace to deliver a good result in the sprint race, he started well and made up a couple of positions on the opening lap, before unfortunately crashing out on lap two.
It put him on the back foot Sunday’s races, as he and the team had hoped to gather more data on tyre life for the day’s longer races. At the halfway stage of race two he began to suffer from a lack of grip, and plummeted down the order, finishing 22nd.
With some changes made for the final race, he – along with teammate Iddon – were part of an eight-rider battle for fifth, but despite the setup improvements giving him grip for longer, with five to go he began to suffer, and was left to spin and slide his way to 15th place.
Danny Kent, “The crash on Saturday really ruined today. The front just wasn’t loaded in the same way, the track was at its hottest, and I made the mistake and it costs us as we weren’t able to find out how the tyre would hold up. We obviously put laps on the tyres in practice but not in one stint. We really struggled with nine or 10 laps to go in the first race today and I just went backwards. We made a change for race two and it was better, we went quicker, and were in that second group. But with about five or six to go, I really struggled again and just had to get to the finish. But I feel it’s coming, we’ve made progress the last couple of rounds and while the results don’t shout about it this weekend, I’m looking forward to the rest of the season.”
Aboard the other Buildbase Suzuki Iddon had similar issues. Despite a steadier start to the weekend, as he struggled to find the feeling he needed, he and the team worked hard to find improvements that eventually let him fight for fifth place in the final race of the weekend.
Unfortunately, with a quarter of the race to run, his tyre dropped off and left him to ride around and take 11th place, which he added to his 12th and 11th place finishes from races one and two.
Christian Iddon, “It was a frustrating weekend. Friday was difficult and it wasn’t clicking, we struggled to set an outright lap time and then had a bad qualifying. Everyone kept working hard and we improved the bike race to race, and we were able to have a go in the last one, and with six or so laps to go I really thought we were in with a shout of fifth, which became fourth when [Peter] Hickman retired. But then my rear tyre just dropped and that was it. It was coming round on me and the other riders were just able to gap me out of corners, and you know then that the game is up. You’re just riding round trying to make it to the finish and there’s nothing you can do. I honestly didn’t expect the drop we got, and we’re going home with no meaningful points on the board. Luckily Cadwell couldn’t be more different so we’ll regroup and try again in a couple of weeks.”
Race one result: 1. Jason O’Halloran, 2. Tarran Mackenzie, 3. Bradley Ray, 12. Christian Iddon, DNF. Danny Kent
Race two result: 1. Jason O’Halloran, 2. Tarran Mackenzie, 3. Bradley Ray, 11 Christian Iddon, 22. Danny Kent
Race three result: 1. Tarran Mackenzie, 2. Bradley Ray, 3. Jason O’Halloran, 11. Christian Iddon, 15. Danny Kent
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