British Superbikes, Donington Park: Podium success finally comes for Kent

Danny Kent looked at home instantly in the opening BSB round in Navarra, which played to his strengths having raced heavily in Europe on his journey to Moto3, with a rostrum visit eluding him in Oulton Park, registering a best of fourth, twice.

That run of just missing out on the McAMS Yamaha continued into Donington Park with fourth in the first race and the sprint.

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The shorter race did see improvements pay off - Kent set a new best in-race fastest lap of the Derby track, which brought him pole position for the final outing.

Though he didn’t keep first, that went to a fast starting Tommy Bridewell, the elevated grid position did enable him to run at the front, but the #52 felt the slow nature of the first laps damaged his tyres:

“The first sort of ten laps the pace was so slow and then, to be fair, I think it actually caused a bit of a problem for me personally - I think it made my rear tyre pressure drop a little bit, which then caused me problems later on in the race for drive grip.

A new factor came into play with old rivals and teammates Bridewell and Glenn Irwin sizing each other op out front, a bonus for the duo behind, Kent and Jason O’Halloran, who did not have to worry about chasing down a leader, sat in behind ready to capitalise on any errors as the pair fought:

“The rivalry between Tommy and Glenn was coming out the last couple of laps and, to be fair, it helped me a little bit in the last sector.

Kent then came into his own in a race the riders involved described as ‘like Moto3’ - a championship where he took the  2015 title.  Clearly pleased with the progress he has made with his new team for 2024, if anything Kent was a little disappointed not to feature on the podium more:

“The team have worked mega, I felt great on the bike all weekend, just a shame that I wasn’t able to get some more podiums this weekend because I felt like me and the team deserved them.

My race strategy at the beginning of the first two races didn’t go quite to plan but overall I’m happy to come away second it the championship, managed to take a few points out of Glenn in that final race so I know everything is going in the right direction and I’m real pleased.

In my BSB career this is the strongest start to a year I’ve ever had so, you know it’s just building on my confidence and I think that’s just something I need to improve on anyway”.