September was was a busy month for Finn Smart-Weeden with two rounds of the British SportBike Championship.

With just one round of the season to go at his home circuit, we bring you up to date with his progress in the last two race meetings.

In mid-September Finn Smart-Weeden (aka FatBoyFinn) went to Oulton Park to compete in round eight of the Pirelli National SportBike championship held as part of the British SuperBikes (BSB) event there.

It was all positive, until it wasn’t! In Friday’s Free Practice sessions the Painters Forstal resident equalled his best time from the BSB opening round at Oulton earlier this year, in May, and although he would have preferred to qualify better than 13th he felt it was fair reflection of the competition.

Which included wildcards Fillipo Rovelli, a world superbikes SuperSport 300 podium placer in 2022 and Robert Varey who had been on the podium earlier this year on the BMW F900 – both older and more experienced riders.

The team made some setup changes for Saturday afternoon’s free practice session which seemed to make things better and the Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School Faversham sixth form student was looking forward to a good race on Sunday afternoon.

Ran, red flags, cancellations and delays – that was Sunday! Due to all the disruption the SportBike race was shortened to eight laps from eleven, rescheduled for more than an hour later than the original time and the last session of the whole weekend. 

During the sighting laps it was obvious there was a problem with the bike, Seventeen yr old Finn reported engine surging and unpredictable throttle response but, due to the disruption, and the unpredictable weather conditions, the start had been declared a quick start procedure and there was no time to investigate or to make any changes.

The drama meant that Finn missed the pit lane closure and had to start at the back of the grid (28^th instead of 13^th).

Finn made up nine places during the first lap but with a damp track he   just didn’t feel safe so pulled in on lap four and retired from the race.

No points – but not such a great weekend for a few others so he remained 10th in the championship.

The team believed they found a set up error/foible with the control unit and made changes to make sure this particular problem didn’t recur and Finn headed up to Donington Park, two weeks later, with enthusiasm and hoping to make up for the complete lack of points gained at the previous Donington Park round in May – which had been entirely due to technical problems with the bike.

Once again, the end of September Donington Park round was to host only one race for the SportBike class and once again the weather was changeable and unpredictable.

As has been common for this class, the first free practice session was in fact the first free practice session of the event at 9:00am on the Friday morning and the it was cold and wet- Finn crashed out on the fourth corner of the first lap of the session and the later investigation showed a problem with the front wheel which caused it to lock while Finn was riding in a straight line, full throttle and at 80mph.

This threw the seventeen year old off the bike, landing on his hip, tearing a hole through his leathers and requiring a trip to the medical assessment for an X-ray before being passed fit to ride although bruised and scraped.

Mum repaired the leathers with a borrowed leather repair kit, the team repaired the bike, replacing the suspect wheel and Finn was able to take part in the second free practice session later that afternoon, despite the pain. 

Finn managed to come close to his qualifying time from the Donington Park round earlier in the year, posting the 19^th fastest time.

On Saturday afternoon, the Definnitive Racing technical crew noticed some wear in the clutch and decided to replace it before Saturday’s qualifying session

Finn’s pain had increased, and he sat out six minutes in the middle of the twenty five minute qualifying session, still managing to qualify 15^th for Sunday’s race. On the grid before the warm-up lap and after the sighting laps, Finn reported that it felt like the clutch was slipping but at that point there was nothing that could be done. 

Finn got a good start but realised immediately that the clutch problem was real and was getting worse each lap. Finn had a good battle at the front of the pack fighting for 10^th but, due to the clutch problems, could not get enough drive to drag them up the other riders in front.

In the penultimate lap the clutch failed altogether causing a complete loss of drive so Finn had to cruise off the track at the Esses (turn ten) and retire from the race.

This leaves Finn 11^th overall in the championship with two races to go. Both races take place at the championship finale which will be held Brands Hatch 11-13^th October.

The 2023 Junior SuperSport champion had this to say after the penultimate round of the National SportBike class.

“It’s so frustrating when I’m showing the pace to be regularly in the top ten  against older and more experienced racers but when I keep being hampered by technical issues.

“It has been the same for a few other riders – it is a new class and the first time these bikes have been raced in Britain so we are all learning – riders and technical crew.

“I’m hoping my technical team will have solved the clutch problems by Brands and we can go out on a high at my home track. Keep your fingers crossed for me and the team.”

Photographs:

1. BSB 24 09 Oulton Mandy Campion 01ss : Photo Credit Mandy Campion
2. BSB 24 09 Oulton PhotoStrada 01: Photo Credit Photostrada
3. BSB 24 10 Donington Glyn 04: Photo Credit Glyn Richardson
4. BSB 24 10 Donington Glyn 11: Photo Credit Glyn Richardson
5. BSB 24 10 Donington Kevin Bond 01: Photo Credit Kevin Bond
6. BSB 2410 Donington Park PhotoStrada 02: Photo Credit PhotoStrada
7. BSB 2410 Donington Park Richard Horbury 05: Photo Credit Richard Horbury
8. BSB 2410 Donington Park Richard Horbury 22: Photo Credit Richard Horbury