British Talent Cup testing sees Skinner take to the top

Rory Skinner topped the first BTC testing in Valencia, two tenths ahead of closest rival Brian Hart on the combined timesheet

Tags 2018

The weather stayed largely dry during the two days of testing, with only the two final sessions of the first day seeing some rain affect the test and Day 2 completely dry. That gave the field some good running ahead of the first race weekend of the year at the end of March, with six sessions per day allowing for that all-important gathering of experience. There were a number of crashes as the riders settled in, but all were ok.

Behind the top three, Fenton Seabright ended the test in P4, with less than a tenth back to Jamie Davis, who completed the top five.  Joshua Whatley, one of the youngest in the field, was sixth overall – 0.040 off Davis – with seventh fastest rider Charlie Atkins even closer, with a deficit of only 0.004 to Whatley. Max Cook, Thomas Strudwick and Irishman Rhys Irwin completed the top ten.

“There are riders with some potential,” says British Talent Cup Riders’ Coach Dani Ribalta. “Let’s see if during the season we can help the other group of riders to grow race by race. In the first test they have made some mistakes that make it hard to be fast, but if they change these things from the beginning they’ll make big steps. Ahead of the first race, they should go training, training, training – and get ready for the first round!”

Now from Valencia it’s back onto UK soil for that first round, which takes place on Easter weekend alongside the British Superbike Championship.