The Knockhill race weekend started with a bright and dry practice on Friday. With another new track for the team, Thomas improved over the practice session and finished 6th in class. Later in the day and during Qualifying session 1, Thomas pushed further and improved to 5th and finished the day in a strong position.
Saturday Qualifying, although bright and dry, was cooler with track temperatures down by several degrees. Only a few riders improved their Q1 times by less than 0.5 second and so Thomas finished Q2 remaining in 5th in class.
Sunday warm up took place with a low mist over the mountain and the track cooler and slightly damp. Fortunately the first race took place with drier and bright conditions, Thomas had a reasonable start but by the end of lap one, he was in 8th position. Pushing hard and focussing on the catching the rider in front, Thomas was able to pass several bikes to be in 4th place at the start of the final lap. Unfortunately whilst entering the first corner, Thomas lost the front end and slide across the track out of the race.
Race 2 preparations found the team having to make a tyre change on the line as the rain started to fall. By the time the lights went out, the rain was heavy and consistent changing the track conditions and making the race tricky for all riders. Several of the bikes crashed out of the race but Thomas showed his skill and improved his lap time over the race distance of 22 laps. Thomas kept up with a consistent lap time and finished the race in 5th position in class. Following an amendment of the final results Thomas was uplifted to 4th position.
Overall the result from this weekend helped Thomas with his championship position and we look forward to the next round at Snetterton on the 8th / 10th July.
Thomas’ thoughts after round four:“I’m very happy with getting 4th in race two after not finishing race one. I feel confident running at the front, and pleased with our progress. The next round is a track that I like and feel confident at, hopefully we can get a good qualifying position and a good result!”
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