09.09.11Danny Kent impresses in Misano

Last weekend saw the PBRA-pairing of Danny Kent and Taylor Mackenzie heading to Misano in San Marino, Italy for round 12 of the MotoGP series. With Danny continuing on the 2011 RSA machine for a third weekend he was hoping for a strong finish. Taylor was just hoping to put the mechanical gremlins behind him and have a strong, consistent weekend.

With bright sunny skies greeting the riders on Friday morning, Danny Kent continued to show his potential in an ultra-competitive world series. Throughout practice and qualifying Danny ran consistently in the top 6 and eventually secured 6th place on the grid for Sunday’s race, after setting a blistering pace in final qualifying. Taylor was sadly suffering from another series of technical issues and missed out on the majority of qualifying leaving him 32nd and last on the grid.

Come race day, Danny started strong slipping into 2nd position on the early laps as he tried to match the relentless pace of Nicolas Terol at the front. The Brit battled hard, but eventually slipped back and became involved in a four-rider battle for the podium. The 17-year-old remained focused with consistent lap times and eventually passed the chequered flag in 6th after fighting to the bitter end with a last lap overtaking manoeuvre on Maverick Viñales. Taylor made some drastic changes to the bike overnight and managed to reduce his lap times by two seconds in the race. The Leicestershire-based youngster eventually finished 22nd in the race, but looked strong and happy on the bike.

Danny Kent “I really enjoyed riding the 2011 RSA bike again and I must thank the team for giving me this opportunity for a third race weekend. I felt fast and happy with my lap times and to be running so close to the front is a great feeling. The team have supported me throughout the season and worked really hard to educate me and develop my skills in what is a difficult championship. So to run so strong all weekend and finish it off with a good result leaves the team and I with a lot of confidence going in to the next round.”

Taylor Mackenzie “It was a tough weekend for me and the team because yet again we weren’t able to show our true potential. The issues we were having with the bike meant we were playing catch up all weekend and we missed out on a lot of track time, but the changes we made were good and we’re hopefully making progress. If we can maintain this positive trend going into the next round we should be able to challenge for points positions.”