Dan Kneen and the Marks Bloom Racing team completed their final preparations for next month's Macau Grand Prix by contesting the Thundersport Championship meeting at Donington Park at the weekend and it was a successful outcome for the Manxman with a trio of podiums notched up.
Having had a solid outing at the previous weekend's National Superstock 1000cc Championship round at Brands Hatch, Dan was keen to ensure his comeback from his broken elbow continued on its upward trajectory but it almost came to an abrupt end in Saturday morning practice at Donington when he crashed heavily on an oil spillage that didn't have the necessary warning flags displayed. Fortunately, he wasn't badly injured and, riding the Marks Bloom Racing Superstock Suzuki, was able to take sixth - and third in class - in the first Thundersport GP1 race later in the day. Seventh in the 600cc race was also recorded.
Sunday's race action gave Dan even better results and he opened his account with third overall in the second Thundersport GP1 race but, on this occasion, he got the better of Kyle Wilks to be the first Superstock machine past the flag. The final Thundersport race saw the duo again go head to head though this time Wilks narrowly got the verdict for the class win, the pair third and fourth overall respectively. Dan did have the consolation of setting a new class lap record though and to end a good weekend, he took a strong fourth in the second 600cc race.
Speaking later, a satisfied Dan said; "The weekend didn't start that great with the crash on the oil approaching the Foggy Esses but although I was banged up a bit, there was no major damage so once the races got underway, I was able to get stuck in. The Superbikes of John Ingram and Peter Baker obviously had a bit more pace but it was good to be fighting it out for the Superstock win each time. There wasn't much between Kyle and I and we had some really enjoyable battles so it was a more than worthwhile meeting for me and although the elbow's not 100% yet, it's getting better all the time. It's good to get some good mileage under my belt prior to Macau and with the Superbike already on its way there, I'm looking forward to getting there myself. There's a strong line up and whilst it will be nice to better last year's ninth place, I'll be looking for a good, solid finish to end the year positively."
The Macau Grand Prix takes place from November 13-16.
Photo by Glynne Lewis
