McPhee closes the gap on Mir

IT WAS a more difficult race weekend third time out for the British Talent Team, but John McPhee qualified in a solid ninth for the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas and moved forward in the race to finish seventh – crucially cutting a point off the small gap to the top of the championship.

Fighting throughout just behind the battle for the podium, the Connel rider was only just over a second off finishing on the rostrum for the third time in a row – beating championship leader Joan Mir over the line by little more than a tenth to cut that crucial gap.

Now third in the standings after the third race, John will be back on familiar ground at the next round at the Circuito de Jerez in Spain in two weeks – having enjoyed good track time at the venue in testing and looking to move forward once again.

After the race John said: ‘It was a difficult weekend but to come away in seventh position and so close to the podium again I think we can be reasonably happy.

‘For whatever reason, this circuit didn’t seem to suit our bike set-up and I struggled over the weekend to find the pace I needed.

‘Finally in the race I felt good on the bike and was able to fight. The most important thing was that I secured valuable championship points and closed the gap on Joan Mir.

‘Now after three strong races I’m excited to get back to Europe and continue in this way.’