A brilliant weekend at Donington Park sees Ben Currie race to the top of the British Supersport standings
Ben Currie was back in action at Donington Park over the weekend for the third round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship. The reigning British Supersport champion secured a podium and a fourth-place finish at the iconic circuit, to take the championship lead.
“It was a scorching weekend at Donington Park. The lap times were fast and ferocious from the first session. And with the addition of a few World Supersport riders there, it was good to test ourselves against the best guys.
From FP1 it wasn't the easiest weekend for me, certainly not as easy I’d previously found to get a setting and up to speed, compared to when we were at Donington for the test earlier in the year. The bike we had at the test, compared to what we had arriving at the weekend for the third Bennetts British Superbike round, was a fair bit different due in part to the fact we’ve had two rounds in between and a Spanish test too.
The bike’s evolved and we’ve made positive steps forward. But in hindsight the bike we had at the test far suited the Donington layout then perhaps it did at Navarra and Oulton Park. However, we were still very much in the mix, and fighting for the podium on Saturday. I managed to finish third, and importantly ahead of all my British Supersport rivals.
On Sunday after the morning warm up session, it became apparent to me that we needed to try something for the race. The team and myself worked super hard and my crew chief Steve came up with a brilliant plan to revert to a setting that somewhat resembled the test. It was quite a big change to be made ahead of the race, but one I was feeling super confident about as soon as the race took off.
I knew we'd done the correct thing, and I had way more pace and consistency, and I was able to stick in there the whole race with the best guys. Unfortunately, with a little bit of lost grip on the last two laps I slipped back from second to fourth, but nonetheless I'm very happy with my performance. Yes, it could have been better, but it could have been a whole lot worse as I was pushing very, very hard, and any potential mistake would have been very costly.
The weekend was great for the championship as I've now extended my points lead to three points at the top, and we continue to trend in the right direction. As always, I can't thank my team enough. The guys were absolutely faultless with everything. And a huge thanks goes to all my sponsors that came out to support me, it was a brilliant weekend.
We now have a few weeks off, so can recharge the batteries before we go again in Scotland when we race in the fourth BSB round at Knockhill (14-16th June).”