JORDAN Weaving was left ecstatic after securing a first podium finish of the season for Evesham’s Jones Dorling Racing in the penultimate round of the Pirelli National Superstock Championship, writes Neil Gandy.
The result at Donington Park was just reward for rider and squad after a campaign of mixed emotions and a delighted Weaving said: “This feeling was something I thought I would never feel again.
“There were times I thought I wasn’t going to be competitive again after the two years I went through with my shoulder but this proves to me if you keep fighting and keep believing anything is possible.
“Thank you to my whole team, sponsors, family and fans.”
Friday’s free practice was a mixed bag in changeable weather conditions, with JDR’s Ben Godfrey and Weaving riding the Suzuki 1,000 Superstock bikes and finishing P17 and P6 respectively.
Of the team’s Superstock 600 riders on the Yamahas, Cameron Fraser pushed for a P8 and following an early crash Worcester’s Ewan Potter finished P23.
In Saturday’s qualifying, Fraser managed to put some fast laps in to secure a P6, having knocked 1.5 seconds off his lap time.
Potter was disappointed with his P23 but felt he could improve in the race. Sadly, in the Superstock 1,000 qualifying session another rider collided with Godfrey at the first corner with only a few minutes left and on a flying lap, sending Godfrey hurtling into the gravel and the bike bouncing towards him.
He was taken to hospital and is awaiting surgery on a broken leg and other injuries, putting an early end to his season.
Weaving had better luck, with some improved fast laps finishing in P7 for Sunday’s race.
Potter and Fraser lined up at opposite ends of the grid for their 600 race. Potter made up several places from the back in the early laps, with Fraser getting a good start from P6.
However, an incident involving three riders resulted in the safety car being brought out which hampered Potter, whilst Fraser dropped from fifth to ninth as debris from the accident smashed his screen and lodged in the bike. He managed to make up two places at Old Hairpin to cross the line in seventh.
Potter determinedly fought through from 19th to finish in 16th, narrowly missing out on points, but gaining a personal best and knocking 1.8 seconds off his lap time.
With only Weaving left to race in the 1,000s, he had a good start off the line from P7 and several laps in had moved into fifth. He surged through into third place and managed to hold this for the last few laps of the breathtaking race but was still pushing hard for second place.
He took the flag in third with less than half a second splitting the top three riders – his first podium of the season and bringing home silverware for the team.
The team conclude the season at Brands Hatch later this month.
