Joe Talbot claimed his best ZYN British Superbike Championship result last time out at Cadwell Park with AJN Steelstock bimota’s rapid rookie claiming a fourth place and fighting for a debut podium.
Talbot has been consistently scoring top eight finishes and at Cadwell Park he scored a fifth place and scored an impressive fourth in race three after he was taken down by Ryan Vickers in the opening race.
Talbot said: “Cadwell started off really good for me. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t playing ball in the test and it was hard to get the time in that we were actually meant to have, and we only managed to get 20 minutes at the end when it started to dry.
“So straight away in FP1 and FP2 we had to go out and try to go fast to put times in to try and get into Superpole and it was all a bit hectic really! But in a couple of dry laps we discovered the bike was really good and I had a good feeling straight away, so we managed to get straight into Superpole. That was a first experience for me doing that and it was a really cool experience, quite stressful, but I managed to put myself sixth. Being on the front two rows around Cadwell is always the objective, so it was job done in Superpole, which was good.
“In Race 1, we got a decent start and was in the leading group. There were a couple of crashes in front of me and I found myself in fourth behind the leaders and I felt really good. I felt in a comfy zone but unfortunately, I got taken out by another rider into Park corner and that was the end of my race.
“It was very frustrating, but we knew we had the pace and also the race pace so I was able to wake up on Monday morning, went out, and finish fifth in the Sprint race, which was good. I had a little bit more pace than Leon but it was difficult to pass. In the final race I managed to get fourth and then fight for the podium behind Kyle, but just wasn’t able to get close enough to make the pass. It just shows you that the consistent laps that he was doing and the front guys can do, it’s hard to really close that allows you to make a move.
“Overall, a really positive weekend for me, the best weekend of my BSB career so far. We had top-five pace every session, which was really good and it was nice to get them for the team. It would have been nice to get that podium, but maybe next time. I feel like I’ve made a big, big step within myself at the weekend. I now believe I can be up there and I’d like to carry on progressing and carry on being in those sort of positions at every round from now on.
“We will keep on doing what we are doing! Assen is a circuit that I don’t have much experience at, I only rode there last year in Supersport and I’ve never been there on a Superbike, but I’d never been to Cadwell before on a Superbike and we did a good job, so let’s carry on, keep on learning, keep on processing what’s going on and keep adapting.”