The Biker Place

Tom Weeden rode at Brands Hatch last weekend in the British Super Bike 125 championship. Brands is Tom’s home track, but a track which he has little experience at due to MSVR’s no under 18 policy on Track Days.

The 15 year old from Maidstone was riding on the full GP circuit, which he had never ridden on before.

Despite this Tom was 10th quickest on a wet 1st practice session.

But unfortunately a series of suspension and engine problems during dry 2nd practice and Qualifying left Tom 23rd on the grid for the race on Sunday.

This didn’t deter him, and after a great start off the grid, Tom moved up several places to 19th. An aggressive first 2 laps saw Tom overtake several more riders, leaving Tom well up the standings into 15th.

Tom settled into the race well, and after a few laps Tom made his move on his team mate Michael Hill, moving up to 14th place.

However the rider in front had pulled away too far for Tom to catch, so Tom held off Michael and Christian Elkin’s attempts to pass him and settled for 14th and 5th in the cup. Tom put in some consistent, fast lap times and Tom had a comfortable lead going into the last lap.

Tom crossed the line in a fine 14th place, with 5th in the Academy Cup.

This was Tom’s 2nd points finish in a row, following his 11th place finish at Mallory.

This result leaves Tom 6th in the Cup standings and 23rd overall

Not bad in his “rookie” year at BSB

Quote:

I wasn’t looking forward to the race, after suspension and engine problems in practice and qualifying, and then again in warm up, it didn’t bode well for the race. But I kept my chin up, and got a great start from 23rd on the grid, making up several places in the first lap. I had an ok pace in the race, despite even more engine problems, making it very difficult to change gear. To finish 14th and 5th in the cup was so much better than I had expected after having such a difficult weekend. This is now my 2nd points finish in a row, and hopefully I can progress from here and get on the Academy podium at Cadwell!

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