Fred battles back with gritty race ride
Fred Mcmullan, our sponsored race rider, showed grit and determination to overcome setbacks in the British Superbike Championship’s Junior Supersport class.
He built on a promising start in round one with some consistent performances in the next two races at Donington Park the weekend of 21-22 May.
Fred now has three top 20 finishes in four races in his debut season riding for TeamVal-Tech Racing.
The 15-year-old lined up 26th in race one and went toe to toe with team mate Darragh O'Mahony.
He achieved another top 20 finish in 19th place, just 0.135 seconds ahead of Darragh in 20th.
The lap times they achieved meant both moved up the grid, starting race two the following day in 24th and 26th.
Unfortunately, Fred’s Yamaha R3 would not start on the grid and he had to bump-start it in the pit lane, which he’d never done before, starting from the back of the grid in 34th.
He reduced his lap times further in race two, bringing the bike home in 19th place again with a fantastic ride from the back of the grid.
He matched his race one result, meaning three top 20s in a row, while making up 15 places was a great example of grit and determination.
Fred said: “After a good start, I put my head down and got on with the job in hand and battled my way up to P19 by the end of the race.
“Overall, I was happy with the result and had a good weekend.”
[Photo credit: Gavin Elliott]