Lewis rounds off his racing year in style
TEENAGE rider Lewis Jones rounded off his racing year in style at the Donington Park British Superbike Championship weekend, riding his KTM in the Hel Junior Supersports rounds within the top British racing series.
The weekend was not kind to the two-wheeled racers, Leicestershire weather turning nasty and deluging the circuit so that it was impossible for racing to continue on day one with the track under water and visibility non-existent.
The second day dawned far better and with races rescheduled, the BSB was back in action and the 15-year-old Ammanford ace was up there with the best.
Practice was on a still wet track, but Jones’s weekend began successfully as he held a first and a second place in the slippery conditions.
Qualifying followed, and his early confidence was repaid, taking third on the grid and his front-row position putting him in good stead for the first of his Hel Junior Supersports battles. They were scheduled for Saturday afternoon but were delayed to Sunday as the rain worsened.
Race 1 saw Jones making a superb start off the line and getting away in a group of three leading the race.
He was able to snatch second place by the second lap, just over a second off the leader, as drama unfolded.
Series leader Owen Jenner slid his Affinity Sports Kawasaki off the track, dejectedly watching from the tyre wall as he saw his championship being lost before his eyes.
However, 50 yards later his only rival, Seth Crump, was also down, the Australian unable to continue as his MSS Performance bike was damaged, and an astounded Jenner saw the title drop back into his hands.
Meanwhile, Jones was not losing control, holding his second place until the seventh lap when he dropped to third, and he held that placing to the chequered flag, rounding off his British Superbike support season with a hard-ridden podium place.
The second race was somewhat dramatic. The pack closed up massively on the opening few laps, Jones dropping back a little to gain space, but then as he admitted, trying too hard to catch up lost ground, he finally lost the front end of the KTM attempting an outbraking pass on two rivals and slid into retirement.
Later in the day Jones was able to put that slip behind him as Team Lewis Racing were able to celebrate that podium together.
The Ammanford rider said: “An amazing end to my 2020 race season — my first BSB support podium. My thanks to all my sponsors for getting me there, and my family and team for the fantastic support all year.”
DESPITE recent optimism over the WRC future for Wales Rally GB, the event still faces potential problems as Northern Ireland may get UK Government funding if it replaces Wales Rally GB in the calendar.
Northern Ireland has tried, so far unsuccessfully,to get the event after the British WRC round has run in Wales for two decades.
With the rally cancelled this year due to coronavirus, a contract clause with WRC promoters means it could be moved to another part of the UK or dropped entirely, which is less likely.
The NI Assembly Secretary Brandon Lewis and UK Department for Culture Media and Sport are supportive of the Belfast bid despite millions of pounds needed to make it happen.
A 2021 calendar is now published, with WRGB having a provisional date of August 19-22, the ninth of 12 WRC rounds, pending discussions with the FIA.
WRGB brought £10 million in income to the Principality last year, income for local charities, and exposed Wales to 150 countries through television.
Any region hosting the UK WRC round is likely to get similar income, publicity and charitable support and it will come at a huge cost to Wales if it moves away.
ELFYN Evans continues to lead the 2020 FIA World Rally Champion
ship after a solid fourth place finish in last weekend’s Rally Italia Sardinia.
His nearest rival, Toyota Gazoo Racing team-mate Sébastien Ogier, finished in third, leaving the Welshman now with a slightly reduced 14-point advantage to become the first British driver to win the WRC title since the Colin Mcrae and Richard Burns era nearly 20 years ago.
Evans remains on target for the coveted crown, but his task has been made harder by the addition of an extra round to this year’s Covid-19 truncated calendar.
This new event at the famous Monza F1 circuit in early December will supplement next month’s already confirmed Renties Ypres Rally Belgium (November 19-22).
Arriving on Sardinia as the outright championship leader, Evans’s hopes of victory were always slim.
Running first on the gravel tracks on Friday’s opening six stages meant he and co-driver Scott Martin were ‘road-sweepers’ in their Yaris WRC, clearing away the loose top surfaces, giving those behind a cleaner, grippier surface.
Minimising the time lost, Evans and Martin ended the opening loop of competitive stages in fifth place, but already too far adrift to challenge those ahead for a podium place over the weekend’s 10 remaining speed tests.
Victory finally went to Hyundai
Motorsport’s Dani Sordo. The Spaniard, not in title contention, took full advantage of a lower starting position to score back-to-back wins in Sardinia. His car subframe was found to be underweight at the finish, by just 25 grammes, or the weight of an AA battery!
That astonishingly minor fact resulted in the team being fined 30,000 euros but allowed to keep the win.
“We have come away from the weekend as best as we could really with solid points,” admitted Evans, who will not have the same road cleaning issues on the remaining two rounds as both are staged on asphalt roads.
“Of course, you always want more than fourth place but we knew coming here starting first on the road was going to be tough and in the end I think
fourth was realistically the most we could achieve.
“We were put out of the fight on Friday with our road position and it didn’t make sense to take big risks to try and be faster but probably just end up in the same position at the finish anyway.
“So yes, not our strongest performance, but a solid weekend considering the circumstances and the Yaris WRC felt great again.
“Now going on to asphalt, being first on the road should normally be an advantage and we will be hoping that will be the case.”