Strong rides saw teenage racer Fred Mcmullan, our sponsored rider, achieve a personal best result in the latest round of the British Superbike Championship’s Junior Supersport class.
The 15-year-old, from Leiston, started the first race of the third round at Donington Park over the weekend of 16-17 July from 19th on the grid. It was his best position after qualifying with a 1:47.669 lap.
Fred finished a good, hard race with a new personal best result of 18th.
He had struggled to find the space to set a fast lap and started the second race 25th on the grid.
Fred battling throughout the whole race led to his Yamaha R3 getting very hot as he pushed hard.
But he only missed matching his personal best result by less than a second and finished the second race in P19.
Consistent performances mean he now has five top 20 finishes in six races in his debut season riding for TeamVal-Tech Racing.
Fred, one of the younger riders in the class, is upbeat about his progress with six races and three of the eight rounds of the British Junior Supersport Championship behind him.
“It’s going very well. I feel good about it and positive.”
The last round saw the team running new Maselli Racing Suspension, front and rear, on the R3s and Fred said it had made a difference.
“It gave a lot more feel on the bike and I can now push it harder,” he said.
So now, with a good start to the season, Fred is looking to build on his momentum and work his way up the grid and rankings.
The next round is at Thruxton from 12-14 August.
Amid all the excitement on the track, Fred enjoyed two weeks of work experience at Orwell Motorcycles last month.
He spent his time with the workshop team and it has fired his desire to do some kind of engineering when he leaves school.
“It was good experience to get into the workshop,” said Fred who worked on the motorbike he uses for practice riding sessions.
[Photo: Camipix Photography]
