Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Finn rescues points after earplug drama
Sunday’s NG Road Racing’s Junior Supersport races at Cadwell Park were full of drama for Finn Smart-weeden. Having forgotten to put in his earplugs, the Faversham racer left the track during the warm-up lap to return to the paddock, retrieve the ear defenders and put them in. The race had already started once he returned to the track and he crossed the start line only 40 seconds ahead of the front runners completing their first lap.
The youngster charged on and finished 20th of 35 starters and fourth in class for points but no podium. He started 20th for the second race of the day. A decent start and courageous first lap saw him up to 10th despite brake fade, reaching sixth and first in class with a 10-second lead over second but unfortunately he experienced braking issues, with pieces of brake pad flying off the front of the bike, leading to a retirement.
He started the weekend leading the championship by 22 points and ended it only two points ahead so it is all to play for at the final two rounds. The previous day’s action had been relatively uneventful, qualifying first in both the Junior Supersport and Open 500 classes in the morning and taking the win in each class in the afternoon races.
On the Sunday, in the Open 500 class he finished first in class, nearly 25 seconds ahead of the current championship leader. A bit too eager in the second race, Smart-weeden was penalised 10 seconds for a jump start but he put his head down and charged ahead finishing seventh overall, still first in class and again ahead of the championship leader. The 15-year-old is now running second overall in the Open500 class with two rounds left.