Jake Dixon was in the points in both of the MCE British Superbike Championship races at his home circuit at the weekend.
The Big Brands bash was as entertained as it promised and Dover’s Dixon was in the thick of it, despite not having the best of weekends on board the Briggs Equipment BMW.
After the three free practice sessions on Friday and Saturday, Dixon headed into qualifying inside the top twenty and although he matched his time from earlier in the weekend, it was a challenging session qualifying in 19th for the first race.
However, both the team’s riders were only a second off pole position although that only further highlighted the strength in depth of the Championship! Dixon found himself on the fringes of the top twenty at the end of the first lap and throughout the course of the race, gradually moving forward.
With the pace of the field very similar, overtaking wasn’t the easiest task but Jake managed to take 14th at the chequered flag for two Championship points.
For the second 20-lap encounter, Jake lined up in 18th and on the sixth row, meaning it would be another tough race for the talented Kent lad, and it ended up following a similar pattern to the first. He made overtaking manoeuvres to pull himself through the field and by half race distance, Jake had moved up to 15th.
A safety car period in the closing stages saw the field close up and when racing resumed, there were just four laps to go. With space tight with the field bunched up, Dixon encountered difficulties to lap as quick as what he had done earlier fighting his way up to twelfth for his second points-scoring finish of the day.
Speaking at the end of the race weekend, Jake said: “It’s certainly been an eventful weekend and I struggled for set up all weekend as the new engine spec I was running had more torque and top end, which left me a session behind everyone else as I tried to get used to the bike.
“Throughout free practice, I was struggling and was back in 19th place and I again struggled in morning warm-up but the team got their heads together before the races and we found something that definitely worked.
“To come through from 19th to 14th in race one was very pleasing and with a few more changes for race two, the bike felt fantastic. I was able to score more points so a massive thank you to Lee Hardy Racing, Briggs Equipment, Mother Hubbard and all of the boys in the garage for their hard work.”
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