BSB: Dixon surprised by pace at 'big balls' Thruxton

Jake Dixon has said he didn’t expect to have such strong pace on the opening day of action of the seventh round of the 2017 MCE British Superbike Championship at Thruxton.

The RAF Regular & Reserves Kawasaki rider lapped under the lap record to place quickest on the timesheets, but it wasn’t just his outright pace that was impressive.

Putting in an impressive race run on the SC0 softer tyre in FP2, Dixon was surprised by his pace given the Kawasaki has traditionally struggled to make the softer rear last.

“We rolled out in free practice one here and I felt really good on the bike, we stayed on the SC1 (harder) tyre and we knew we had the pace with that in the first session,” he said.

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“We put a SC0 in for the last run in the second session and we also did a race run, which was really good and with consistent lap times for 18 laps, so if we can do that in the race we will be in a strong position. We also had a go at the one lap at the end and she was spinning up but it was really good fun!

“I was a bit nervous coming here as everyone said the Kawasaki couldn’t make the SC0 last round here, but maybe it’s all about the jockey being smooth on the throttle?

“This is such a unique circuit and it is one of my favourites on the calendar because how fast it is – you need big balls to do it and I am pretty stupid so I do seem to go pretty quick around here!”

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