MOTORSPORT: Brakes fixed and personal best time on track

In stark contrast to the six-week lay-off between the first two rounds of the British Ducati Tri-Options Cup, Rugby’s Keith Jaggard and the rest of the championship field had just five days to prepare for round three which would take place at Derbyshire’s, fast, Donington park circuit as one of the support races to the World Superbike Championship, writes Colin Hill.

After the brake problems that had plagued them at the previous round at Brands Hatch, Keith and his team were hoping they had managed to resolve the issue in readiness for the weekend ahead.

FREE PRACTICE

Taking to the track in almost perfect conditions Keith was hopeful of starting to get some good times in ahead of the afternoons Qualifying session. But it was soon evident that the “pesky” brake problem was still present so back to the drawing board looking for a solution to be ready for Qualifying.

QUALIFYING

Once again hopeful the problem was fixed, having had some help from other riders, who were also suffering the same issues, Keith took to the track and settled in to set a time to be on the grid for the first of the weekends two races on Saturday afternoon. But again the problem reared its head, fortunately Keith managed to ride with the problem and got himself on the grid.

SATURDAY, RACE 1

Having spent much of the day chasing the ongoing brake issues, Keith and the team were delighted to take to the grid in the knowledge the culprit of the problem had been found and rectified, which meant he could now attack in the race WITH brakes from the start!

Throughout the race he chipped away at the guys ahead, finally coming home in a creditable 21st position, but more importantly having dropped his laptime by over 3 seconds a lap by the end of the race.

SUNDAY, RACE 2

With the dawning of the main race day, the weather had changed from the previous two days, the warm dry conditions had turned to cool, cloudy and damp in the air. But, with his race not until last race of the day, conditions would return to the warm dry, perfect for his setup.

From the lights going out Keith, once again set about moving up through the field from his start position of 29th and, once again, worked hard chipping away at his laptimes, again dropping a couple of seconds of his best time and again finishing the race with another 21st place. more satisfying for Keith though was a personal best time around the scenic sweeping track.

A good end to a weekend that had its problems.

The next outing for Keith will be at the country’s fastest track, Hampshire’s Thruxton circuit.