BSB: Tough weekend for Dixon after practice crash

The opening round of the 2018 Bennetts British Superbike Championship proved a tough one for RAF Regular and Reserve Kawasaki’s Jake Dixon.

A showdown contender in 2017, Dixon was hoping to get off to a strong start as the 2018 season got underway but a fast crash in the final free practice session at Starkey’s kick-started a chain of events that’d see him up against it in the weekend’s two races. Qualifying 11^th after the crash, Dixon would go on to suffer with mechanical issues in the opening race (finishing 11^th) and despite making solid progress in race two, he’d lose positions towards the end of the race after running on and finished 12^th.

“Both of the results stemmed from the tip-off I had at Starkey’s in the third free practice session on Sunday morning and with only three laps in qualifying, I was playing catch-up from that moment on,” he explained.

“I had a clutch issue in the first race which left me with no engine braking and back in 12th place whilst Monday was looking a lot better when I’d moved up into sixth place. It was difficult overtaking as it meant you had to go off line to do it and I ended up running straight on at the Melbourne Loop whilst chasing Danny Buchan and Shane Byrne. I got back up to 12th so whilst nine points from the two races is far from ideal, I’m in one piece and we can go again at Brands.”