Dan Drayton competed in the second round of the Pirelli National Superstock 600 championship at Brands Hatch Indy last weekend.
In only his second race on the Kawasaki 600 Drayton made a solid start during the free practice sessions. In FP1 he was 27th with a lap time of 50.690. His time was 2.6 seconds behind the fastest rider. The team made some small adjustments to the seating position and the suspension which proved to have a major effect. Drayton cut his lap time to 49.419 in FP2, despite some other ongoing technical issues with the bike. Although he was still in 27th position he was now just 1.6 seconds behind the provisional pole sitter.
On Saturday the 34 riders took to the track for qualifying. With around three minutes remaining of the session Drayton was still placed 27th on the timesheet, despite continuing to improve his lap times throughout the session. Having made one last stop and final adjustment to the bike he put in another couple of laps before the chequered flag signalled the end of qualifying.
On his very last flying lap Drayton registered a 48.822 and moved up to 23rd place on the grid for the race and a personal best time for him. So close were the riders that only one second separated the rider in fourth with Drayton’s lap time.
On bank holiday Monday as the lights went out a reduced number of 31 riders raced towards Paddock Hill corner. It was at this very first corner that Drayton’s race was almost over as another rider collided with the number 34 from Scunthorpe. Although the bike suffered damage to the fairing and the radiator and Drayton took a blow to his leg he managed to keep upright. The collision also caused Drayton to plummet to 29th place.
Having established the bike was ok to continue racing Drayton set about trying to reel-in the riders ahead. He made up one place the following lap. He was running nine tenths behind Mark Piper but within the space of two laps he had caught and overtaken him. The rider ahead now was Grant Newstead. He was proving more difficult to catch but both of them overtook Harry Blades as Drayton moved into 25th spot.
With ten laps remaining Drayton finally got past Newstead and up into 20th place. He was then involved in a battle with Nagy and Valleley for the final few laps. Drayton went on to end the race sandwiched between the two. A nineteenth-place finish, and just four places from a point scoring finish in only his second National Superstock 600 race.
Drayton said, “We’d had some technical issues all weekend, but I was feeling good going into the race. The collision at the start was a real shame as I lost loads of places at the beginning of the race. I wasn’t entirely sure what damage had been done to the bike but found I still had great pace to push on. I reckon we could have picked up our first points this round but after the first corner that opportunity was lost. Still 19th place was a good recovery and we know a points finish is not too far away now.”
The next round of the National Superstock 600 series takes place over the weekend of 29 April to 1st May.