Motorcycling Hedger happy to claim seventh place in race two
CPD Kawasaki rider Luke Hedger made the short trip to Donington Park for the penultimate round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship.
Day one was a mixed bag with cold and dry conditions making things difficult for all of the teams. The first session was dry so Hedger was able to bring the Kawasaki home in the top ten with a 1:32.930 before the bad weather started.
The second session he continued to have good pace, despite poor visibility on the track, but after just eight laps he decided to pull in as he knew there would be no improvement on the first practice.
On Saturday, the organisers who have specialised weather systems for the track monitored the standing water and decided to warm up in the morning and a race in the afternoon to hopefully avoid the worst of the downpours. Unfortunately, this didn’t work out and the rest of the day was called off due to safety reasons.
With thanks to the marvellous management at the Bennetts British Superbikes, it was possible to have all of the races on the Sunday.
Hedger and the Cunnington Property Developments Kawasaki team were ready and waiting for the first race to begin. As Hedger lined up on the grid in 10th position (row four), next to Scotland’s Lewis Rollo, he had a belly full of fire. The lights went out and it was a push to the first corner where Hedger managed to keep his position which is how it remained throughout the race.
In the final stages of the race, Davey Todd was hot on Hedger’s
heels and it was a drag to the flag as Todd just beat him over the line. Hedger remained positive as he still picked up points, even though he was just outside the top ten.
In race two, Hedger would start on the same row but one position further back, with more settings being changed on the bike, they tried to keep heat in the tyres for as long as they could on the grid.
For one final time of the weekend off they went, storming down the massive drop that is craner curves and back up into the arena, this time for 12 laps.
Hedger had some great battles with Rollo throughout the race and managed to overtake on the second
to last corner, having to be desperately late on the breaks. It paid off and Hedger took the chequered flag in seventh place, having moved up five places.
Hedger said: “This weekend was good, filled with a lot of promise as me and the team found a great pace from FP1.
“Race one we got caught out with the changing conditions and didn’t quite have the set up but we regrouped and pushed hard in that second race and a couple more laps and that podium would have been mine!
“So I am really happy with how things are going and how we are working as a team.
“I honestly can’t thank my team enough for all their hard work.”
Team manager Chris Cunnington said: “Despite being a very fragmented year, the team have done incredibly well to stick together and produce results whatever obstacles were put in their way.
“I think we have some great settings from most tracks that we would normally go to which will enable us to work better next year. We have decided for the last round to change things up a little bit and enter into the Supersport race on a 600cc bike as well. It will be a hectic weekend with faster turnaround times, but the team would hope for a big finish to the season.”