Street motorbike racer opens shortened season with a good points haul

A motorbike racer from Street has started his delayed 2020 season with a good points haul in tricky conditions.

Damon Smith is riding a Kawasaki in the 2020 North Gloucester Road Racing Championships and, despite not getting a podium in the first race meeting at Cadwell Park, he is pleased with his return to action.

He is once again competing on the Kawasaki ZX10R Ninja that he campaigned last year and he will be concentrating on the Streetstock category in the NG Road Racing Championships, which is for production-based motorcycles racing on all the major UK circuits.

The bike has had a few updates and an engine refresh over the winter, and among his returning sponsors, he has welcomed some new backers and is proud to be supported by them.

Damon told Street Nub News: "The first round of the shortened 2020 season of the North Gloucester Road Racing Championships got underway last weekend at Cadwell Park in Lincolnshire but after the glorious weather we have had during lockdown, the first laps in anger were in torrential rain and gusts of more than 40mph.

"The test day on Friday, despite the conditions, proved good wet weather practice and as the day progressed the track began to dry slightly.

"The following day the track was still damp for the morning warm-up sessions and the following 12-minute qualifying session where I managed to put the bike in sixth position overall on the grid and third in 1,000cc category.

"For the race I used a set of new highly-recommended Michelin tyres but suffered serious grip and traction issues out of the corners which we have since narrowed down to simply not having had chance to scrub in the tyres ready to be used in anger.

"Unfortunately because of this, I only managed a fourth in class, which was disappointing as I felt I had the potential for at least a podium finish.

"The following day proved much drier and brighter, and I had a race long tactical battle being glued to my nearest rival's rear wheel and waited to pounce on the last lap, hard on the brakes to take another fourth place.

"The last race of the weekend proved another great battle, this time with a gaggle of other riders which resulted in getting very out of shape overtaking along the straight and braking so hard the rear wheel was lifting off the road, to finish a solid fifth place.

"All in all a good weekend's racing with solid finishes and good points but I am disappointed not to finish on the podium at least once.

"Above all we left the circuit in one piece where many others fell victim to the conditions. I just missed out on last year's PB lap time by 0.79 seconds."

Damon would like to say a massive thank you to his sponsors this year:

Simon Lane of Hel Performance

Andy Forbes-Buckingham of AFB Motorcycles in Bridgwater

Paul Redmore and Judith Redmore of PJ Parcels Bespoke Delivery and Collection Service in Wookey

Roger Stacey of RA Stacey Plant Hire in Glastonbury

Julie Williams of Ambrosini Construction Group, Wells