Fred on pace and podium with new race team
Fred Mcmullan has returned to BSB Junior Supersport with a wildcard ride after joining 3D Racing.
The 16-year-old, who took some time out in his GCSE exam year and is now at college, first rode for the independent South Wales team at Snetterton at the beginning of September.
Our sponsored rider impressed in his first competitive outing on 3D Racing’s Kawasaki Ninja 400 with podium places in each of the four Bemsee races.
Up against many Kawasaki ZX400s, with 10 to 20bhp more than 3D’s number five Ninja, the Leiston teenager qualified seventh on the grid. It made him the first Ninja behind the ZX400s and extremely powerful TZ Yamahas.
During all four races, Fred was in a dog fight but his tenacity paid off with four third places in his class after consistently improving lap times.
Two weeks later it was on to Oulton Park, in Cheshire, and a wildcard entry into the penultimate round of Junior Supersport, part of the British Superbike Championship programme, in which Fred competed last season.
Qualifying times were extremely close, putting Fred 15th on the grid. In the first race, after a close dice in a large group, he finished 12th by 0.02 of a second.
Race two started in bad light with the threat of rain.
Fred started 20th but, on the third lap, ripped off his knee slider and gashed his leathers on the uneven kerb at Cascades. Somehow he managed to control the bike and made rapid progress through the field.
He was 11th by lap eight, and almost assured of a top 10 finish from his pace, but the race was red-flagged by rain.
Nine points from two races, putting him 24th in the championship against riders with more Junior Supersport experience this season, bodes well for the final round at Donington Park.
[Photo credit: Gavin Elliott]