Podium treble fires Fores, Honda into Title Showdown contention

One of the most significant new signings over the winter, Xavi Fores demonstrated why he is so highly-regarded on the international stage after a breakthrough brace of podiums at Donington Park.

After coming away without any points at Oulton Park after struggling to adapt to its unusual characteristics, Fores utilised the benefit of prior track experience at Donington Park from competing in the World Superbike Championship to prove one of the weekend’s star performers.

Indeed, a trio of podiums seemed an unlikely outcome when Fores qualified 11th for race one but inspired by a mighty getaway on the factory Honda CBR1000RR – a notable weapon of his in all three races – the Spaniard mixed with the front-runners in each encounter.

Scoring a third-place finish in race one, Fores came within metres of winning race two after being overtaken for the lead by Scott Redding just moments before the red flag was deployed due to worsening weather conditions.

Rounding off the weekend with another second place in race three, having led again for a time, the Spaniard was thrilled with a huge points’ haul that lifts him from 16th to fifth in the standings.

“Honestly, I didn’t expect this weekend to finish the way it has, on Saturday I was happy to get my first BSB podium, but today we got two more! We’ve worked really hard with the Fireblade to be fast and consistent with the lap times.

“The second race I felt a lot worse, I had a lot of spin and I was trying to manage the situation throughout the race. I lost some time battling with Tarran [Mackenzie], which I did enjoy but losing the time wasn’t so good, as once I had passed him for the final time the gap to Scott was too much. But leaving here with a third and two second places is great and more than a win for me, especially after the first two rounds.

“Brands is next and the last time I was there was in 2006, it’s a lovely track and I hope to keep my level across the weekend and hope to see the podium again soon.”

Fores is tipped to get an earlier competitive outing than Brands Hatch as he will be lined up to replace the injured Leon Camier at Honda Moriwaki Althea in WorldSBK if the Briton is declared unfit to ride.