Drayton has a top Ten finish at Round 4

It seems that no round so far in 2018 would be straightforward for Dan Drayton's first season in the British Supersport class

After a points finish at Oulton Park - the bike was tested and set up obtained in advance of round 4 leaving Dan and crew Chief Neil Pearson (NP Motorcycles) confident of success

The set up was working well but leaking oil curtailed free practice one, to only 6 laps completd. Dan went on to put in his personal best in free practice two, but during the penultimate lap Dan knew there was a problem with the engine, trying to save it from further damage he pulled off the track at speed, struggling to stay upright he managed to bring it to a halt.

Neil set too, after assessing the damage to the number one cylinder on the damaged engine; swapping out the engine on Friday afternoon. With the spare engine in, Dan went on to knock a further three seconds off his personal best times during the qualifying session, achieving his best starting position this season

The Sprint race got underway, but it was soon slowed by the deployment of the safety car which stayed out for a few laps, Dan's lap times were good as soon as the safety car left the track. He was sitting in 13th position when a group of riders fell ,causing a red flag situation and premature end to the race.

Dan was 10th on the timing sheets, his highest finish to date

Going into the feature race on Sunday Dan was confident and he had gelled well with the bike. He had worked really hard on setup throughout the weekend to obtain the best performance from the bike. As the race got underway the back wheel locked up heading to turn 2, and he lost control of the bike clipping a rider before going down. As he and the bike spun out unfortunately they caused another ride rider to fall, leaving Dan with a DNF and damage to the bike he could ill afford

Fortunately there were no serious injuries

Dan comments:

"I felt confident going into the round, and this was reflected in the improvements I made in my lap times. I lost time in free practice with engine issues, but recovered really well to take a top ten finish which was fantastic. I was feeling confident and had begun to gel really with the bike following the problems at rounds 2 and 3

The incident in the feature race was regrettable as I would never wish to take another rider out of a race. Unfortunately the reactions of the other rider would be played out to the public and this is not what we like to see in motorcycling.

We had so much support this weekend, but thanks go to my newest sponsor - wedelivercars.co.uk.