Daniel Brooks was in action for round eight of the MCE British Superbike Championship as the KTM RC Cup was held at the technical, tight but fast Cadwell Park.

 

This was young Daniel’s first time at the circuit and it was looking like it could be a tough weekend for the team.

Going into Friday practice, Daniel was nervous seeing as it was his first time at the circuit, but excited at the same time.

The team wasn’t putting too much pressure on the young lad from Strood and wanted Daniel to just go and learn the circuit in his first session out.

With only one session on the Friday, Dan finished the day 16th with a time of 1.57.802 having completed 10 laps of the difficult Cadwell park circuit. His lap times dropped by 12 seconds from his first to last laps.

This gave the team high hopes going into qualifying on the Saturday morning. Daniel had been working hard with his training program away from racing and the team was hoping that this would give Daniel an advantage over the others on one of the most difficult circuits in the U.K.

Daniel qualified 14th for Saturday’s race with a time of 1.53.701, knocking a further 4 seconds off his previous best.

This was also Daniel’s best qualifying result in his first season of road racing. Both Daniel and the team were now confident that with the times dropping each session that young Dan could progress even more in the first race come Saturday afternoon.

All of the other riders in the class had visited this venue before. The team made some changes to the bike after Daniel gave some feedback to his team, showing the talent and progression the young Strood lad has shown so far this season.

Race 1 soon came around and another personal best lap time for Daniel saw him finish 12th in race one battling for a top ten finish, taking another 2 seconds off his lap times finishing the race with a fastest time of 1.51.365.

This left the team in great spirits on Saturday night and a well-earned burger for Daniel!! (Don’t tell his personal trainer).

Sunday morning came and the weather was glorious, typical Cadwell weather for a British Superbike round. Warm up was a short session for the KTM Cup lads, with Daniel again improving on his lines and track knowledge, this time finishing the session in 13th.

Race 2 was early on Sunday meaning the team would be done and on the way home by lunch time. This didn’t stop Daniel as once more the youngster went on to finish race 2 in his best finish this season in 11th after a race long battle which ended with 9th to 14th being covered by only 4 seconds across the line.

The final race of the physical weekend and a tough race long battle, didn’t stop Daniel taking another few seconds off his personal best lap time with a 1.49.773.

Overall the weekend was a massive success for Daniel and his team. Now, the BSB championships and KTM Cup, head to Silverstone for the next round, a circuit where Daniel is very confident that he can perform well at, and hopefully score some top 10 finishes.

Daniel would like to thank all of his sponsors, Mab Fit personal training. Off Road South East, Bell Powersports UK, Hel Performance, RFX, Kevin Daniels Racing services, Oakley Covent Garden, and of course, his Mum and Dad.

Images courtesy of Colin Hill @hairybeastpix & Paul Denton