If they didn’t know his name before entering the weekend, they sure do now after CF Motorsport’s Superstock rider Brayden Elliott performed at the opening round of the British Superbike Championship this past weekend at Donington Park.
Debuting his CF Motorsport R1 machinery on Friday, it was the first time Elliott had ridden his race bike at Donington Park, and amongst his fellow 47 competitors. Although no quick laps were turned, Elliott and the CF Motorsport team were able to perfect their setup and quickly learn the track in two dry practice sessions.
By Saturday morning the rain had set in which saw him face a wet qualifying session, however using it to his advantage Elliott secured himself third position for the approaching endurance race of the weekend on the final lap of the session.
With his impressive result in qualifying and a front row start secured, Elliott turned his attention to his first ever endurance race consisting of 100 miles – equating to two 18 lap races back to back, with a 10-minute interval. Although it was declared a wet race, a dry line was forming forcing Elliott to decide on a last minute change to a slick rear and wet front tyre on the starting grid.
Describing it as “the toughest race he had ever experienced” Elliott managed to secure himself tenth position in the first leg after a small mistake saw him stray from the leading group, and an eleventh in the second leg, finishing ninth overall for Saturday’s race.
Unfortunately for Elliott a suspected oil spill from competitors machinery in Sunday’s race saw his weekend cut short after only two laps. Despite crashing out, he luckily didn’t sustain any injuries, but was unable to participate in the race restart.
Elliott who was positive about the weekend shared “I was really happy overall with the way the first round went. I didn’t really know what to expect but I was preparing really hard in the build up to it so I felt ready for whatever the round was going to throw at me.”
“Practice was good, and we were able to get a good feeling in the bike as well as learning the track. It’s difficult to learn a track with forty-seven other riders, while also trying to set up a bike at the same time. We all managed it well, which I think showed in qualifying when I was able to finish third on the grid – a really exciting time for me and the whole CF Motorsport team.
“I also didn’t really know what to expect going in to the endurance race, just because it was a one-hundred-mile race, which is far beyond what I have ever raced before. The pit stop in the middle of the race added another aspect, especially pressure on the team that no one had experienced before.”
“The weather conditions were so up and down I went on to the grid with wets on, and then decided to change so we had a slick rear and a wet front which worked for half the race, and didn’t work for half the race running me off the track when in podium contention. It was a really great learning curve and I was just happy to finish the race. I think it really showed how hard we have been working, going there and being competitive straight away.
“Unfortunately Sunday I was involved in a crash, whether it was because of oil on track I am unsure still, but either way it was unfortunate to crash out so early in the race when I was feeling so good, but on the plus side it has given me a bit more determination for next round and I was lucky to be unhurt. I am really looking forward to round two,” Elliott finished.