WELLINGTON teenage motorcycle racer Bradley Richman was ‘absolutely buzzin’’ on the morning of his very first British Superbike superstock 600 race weekend at Donington Park in Leicestershire on the national circuit, and couldn’t wait to get out on his Hel Performance Kawasaki, writes Kerry Rawson.

With two practice sessions on Friday, qualifying on Saturday and a warm up then race on Sunday, on one of the hottest weekend’s of the year so far, it was never going to be an easy task. But Bradley took everything in his stride, methodically reducing his lap times each session on circuit.

Over the weekend he knocked over two seconds off his times. He qualified 26th out of 36 riders with a time of 1.12.834 in a highly competitive field. Sunday, race day, brought very mixed emotions for team Hel Performance Kawasaki with Bradley saying he’d had a mega weekend after improving his laps times and qualifying 26th by going through some different set-ups with his crew chief Steve from Hel. He said: “We’d got the bike absolutely perfect for race day and after my first lap I went from 26th up to 23rd place. My second lap I managed to get from 23rd to 19th and was catching the group in front.

“However, on the third lap the engine let go, so I came to a halt. We’re not sure how bad it is yet until we get the engine stripped but it didn’t sound good. However, it was still an awesome weekend up until that point.

“I’m hoping to get the Hel Performance Kawasaki ready in time for the second round at Snetterton, near Norwich, on August 21/23, but all in all I feel it’s been a great start to the season as far as lap times go and it was a mega experience out on circuit with some really rapid guys.

“So thanks for the tow guys. I really want to thank so many people for their help and patience over that first weekend – Hel Performance, my crew chief Steve Whitear, Charlie Nesbit, Specialist Lifting Solutions, Carb Shop, HM Motors, RJJ Scaffolding, Brendon Roofing, Ady Ridewood and Dayo Paint. Onwards and upwards to Snetterton.”