14-year-old Jake Clark made a wildcard appearance in the Hel Performance Motostar British standard class Moto3 Championship this weekend, at Snetterton. More accustomed to the restricted RRV450R Aprilia producing around 38 bhp Clark had to learn to ride a more powerful and much lighter 47 bhp Honda NSF250R Moto3, as well as a new track.
Friday was a day to learn how to handle the tiny Moto3 machine and get to grips with the Snetterton 300 circuit layout. There were two free practice sessions and by the end of the day he had grown in confidence. Whilst lap times weren’t important his increased confidence had already helped drop his time by nearly three seconds.
The Bromsgrove racer then set about Qualifying on Saturday morning. It didn’t go to plan. He accidentally hit the kill switch early in qualifying when trying to use the quickshifter. The session was then red flag due to an accident. When it restarted with there were about four minutes to go. Clark was quick to try and make use of the time but then suffered a technical issue with the bike. Although he failed to register a qualifying time Race Direction had seen enough in free practice to allow him to line-up on the grid for race one.
The race on the Saturday afternoon was ten laps. He lined up at the back of the grid and was immediately confronted with a
couple of crashes ahead of him on the first lap. Remaining calm Clark brought the Moto3 machine across the finish line in 13th place and picked up three championship points.
Clark was excited to start the 12 lap race on Sunday, after his first ever Moto3 experience on Saturday. Again starting near the back of the grid Clark made a solid start. His increased confidence showed as he set his fastest lap time of the weekend, a 2:10.577. He went on to cross the finish line in an excellent 11th spot and gained another five championship points.
Jake Clark said, “This was my first time on a Moto3 machine. It is so different to what I’ve ridden before. It’s faster and easier to handle in the corners and very exciting. I would like to thank Gary and Nikita at Wilson Racing for the opportunity and hopefully we can raise the money to continue in the class.”