Buxton racer Chris Kent widens gap in third place after Donington podium

Kent was once again in action on his MZ250 and was able to improve his third place in the standings after handling and carburation issues had hampered his efforts at previous rounds.

Qualifying in fourth meant a second row start and, up to third at one stage, handling issues proved decisive Kent had to settle for fourth.

Race two followed a similar pattern with Kent chasing the three leaders but unable to maintain their pace, which was in fact good enough to set a new lap record.

Race three repeated the order of the finishers on Saturday with Kent in fourth again, but after some overnight work on the bike he was able to stay with the leading trio for longer into the race before some small errors meant he lost the ‘tow’ and dropped back into fourth.

Race four saw Kent in second place on lap one before being passed.

What seemed to be a lonely race suddenly reignited on lap five when Kent was passed and a duel commenced with a couple of overtakes on the last lap with Kent managing to prevail and claim the final podium place.

Kent said: “The new track surface was very smooth and grippy so it was expected the leaders would be very fast in the early races. It helped with my handling issues but they were still there in a couple of the faster corners which meant I lost time each lap.

“Race three was good for me. I got within a 10th of a second of my previous best time here and the bike felt better.

“In Race four the bike felt slow and my lap times reflected that. I think I may have misjudged the jetting required as the temperature rose but I’m happy to get a third place and I’ve widened the gap to fourth overall.”

The next meeting will be at the end of June at Cadwell Park in Lincolnshire.