The 2023 Bennetts British Superbike Championship got underway with Ammanford's Lewis Jones, 18, once again competing in the Pirelli National Junior Superstock Championship onboard his Absolute Marquees Kawasaki ZX6R.
This year, rather than sporting his usual race number 25, he has a brand new race number of 76 for the 11 round 2023 season.
First up in 2023 meant visiting the iconic former RAF base, Silverstone, which has been holding racing events since the 1950’s, for the BSB race on the smaller 1.64 mile National Circuit, making it a short sharp lap to get the season started.
Round one began steady away, getting used to the track and the bike again after what seemed like a long winter off.
With free practice one and two over, it was time for qualifying, in which Lewis ended in 19th.
With a few changes to make ready for Sunday’s race and few things to learn from along the way, Lewis ended round one in 19th after a red flag brought it to an end.
Round two arrived all too quickly, and it was off to Oulton Park in Cheshire.
The weather wasn’t kind, so it was a wet track for free practice one, which resulted in Lewis struggling as he just couldn’t get into a rhythm.
He wasn’t happy ending up qualifying in 27th, so that gave him a lot of work to do in race one.
He worked hard and things began to click, so he progressed, climbing 10 places and finishing the race in 17th.
Starting from 18th on Sunday was another story, with things not going Lewis’s way after a crash on lap six, but he was okay and is now looking forward to the next round at Donington.
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