Jake Dixon and the RAF Regular & Reserve Kawasaki team added two more podiums to their seasons tally at Cadwell Park on Sunday as they maintained second place overall in the 2018 Bennetts British Superbike Championship.
The 22-year old signalled his intentions right from the outset and having topped the timesheets across the practice sessions, he was in confident mood ahead of qualifying on Saturday afternoon. Although he couldn’t quite replicate the time he’d set on Friday afternoon, a lap of 1m26.214s saw him qualify in third place and on the front row of the grid for Sunday’s opening 18-lap race.
Race day dawned a lot cooler and cloudier though and with spots of rain falling it was a difficult start to proceedings for the entire field but Jake completed the first lap in third place which was where he remained until lap three when he was forced wide at Coppice Corner.
He subsequently dropped back to seventh place but he quickly regrouped and a lap later was up into fifth whilst an incident at Hall Bends brought out the safety car for a short period. The race resumed in full on lap nine and with the rain having disappeared, Jake quickly made a move on Tommy Bridewell to climb up to fourth.
With just two laps to go, Jake tried to move up to third at Charlies only to run wide once more and drop back to fifth but two superb overtaking manoeuvres on the final lap, firstly on Bridewell again and secondly on Glenn Irwin at the hairpin, enabled him to claim third place and the final step on the rostrum for a hard earned podium credit.
Sixth on the grid for race two, the Ashby resident made a superb start to move up to third at the conclusion of the opening lap and he shadowed Leon Haslam and Bradley Ray up until two thirds race distance. That was when Haslam moved into the lead and Jake immediately followed him past Ray.
A lap later he took the lead for the first time and although Haslam pushed him back to second on the penultimate lap, he sat right in the wheel tracks of his rival, perfectly positioned to make a final lap move. Quicker along the back straight, he pulled out of the slipstream only for Haslam to defend the corner and with nowhere to go, Jake had to let the brakes off and run wide, taking to the grass as a result.
By the time he rejoined the track, he’d dropped back to third but it gave him his tenth rostrum to add another podium credit to his total and keep him well in contention for this year’s BSB title.
Speaking after the weekend, Dixon said: “With two podiums from the two races, it’s been a good weekend although I am slightly disappointed not to have taken at least one of the race wins. I made it hard work for myself in race one and made a few big mistakes when I was trying to move forward. I felt I had the pace to win but was riding a bit erratic in my eagerness to get up to the front so I had a few mixed feelings after finishing third.”
“I tidied up a lot for race two and felt really comfortable when I was sitting in third so moved up into the lead when I felt the time was right. I didn’t panic when Leon came by me as I felt I had the better of him down the straight. When I tried to get by him though, there wasn’t enough room as he closed the gap a little bit harshly on me, in my opinion. I didn’t really have anywhere to go so I was a bit miffed with third but overall we’ve done a good job this weekend and the whole team was fantastic and I can’t wait for the next round.”
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