Round three of the 2022 Bennetts British Superbike Championship saw Luke Hopkins and his team Black Onyx Security Honda head up to Donington Park in Leicestershire.

For this round we were on the shorter but more flowing National Circuit and it’s a track I really like. Things didn’t start well on Friday as we had some bike issues in Free Practice 1 and then it rained half way through FP2 so I only managed about 19 laps when I would have expected to have done fifty!

Things picked up on Saturday though as I managed to improve my lap time by over two seconds and I’d line up on the grid in 26th place for the first race.

I made a pretty average start in race one and dropped a couple of places on the opening lap. It took me several laps to claw these positions back by which time I’d dropped off the group battling for 15th. I ended up having a lonely ride around in 21st place but then with a few laps to go the exhaust hanger failed and the exhaust can started dragging on the ground leaving a trail of sparks!

I kept going and managed to hold on to 21st place even though I could hardly lean the bike in the right handers as the exhaust was rubbing against the wheel rim.

The team managed to source another exhaust hanger and thankfully the exhaust wasn’t too badly damaged so it was a fairly simple job for the team to sort the bike out for Sunday’s races. Thanks again to my ace mechanics Remi and Alvaro!

Races 2 and 3 on Sunday are frankly best forgotten. Unfortunately, I had to retire from both races with minor silly little mechanical issues. Separately, but in both races, two components broke on the bike’s gear linkage which meant I couldn’t change gear.

In race two I retired from 21st position but in race three I was in 19th place and fighting in a group for 15th so it’s doubly frustrating to have to pull out of that one as I might have been able to grab my first point of the season. It was a rubbish end to a really frustrating weekend but on the plus side, I lapped Donington faster than I ever have before so it proves we’re heading in the right direction and there’s still more to come from both me and the bike.

Oh well, we’ll re-group for Knockhill in three weeks’ time. Thanks to everyone who came along to support me this weekend and massive thanks to everyone who makes this possible, especially #blackonyxconcepts and #hmquickshifter. We’ll be back stronger. #teamwork #keepimproving

Images courtesy of MotoAero Photography