Trystan Finocchiaro enjoyed two podiums, a win, an award, and the championship lead at round 2 of the British Junior Supersport class at Donington Park.
Starting from 4th on the grid for a wet race one Finocchiaro quickly made his way up to 2nd by the end of the first lap. The 20-year-old then took the lead in the opening stages of the race.
Following a near-crash moment on the exit of the Mcleans bend Finocchiaro dropped back to 2nd place behind old Aprilia Superteen rival Edmund Best.
“I knew Ed was going to be fast in the wet” Finocchiaro explained. “I looked at my pit-board and we had a 3 second lead over 3rd so my plan was just to follow and pass on the last lap for the win.”
As the race went on Finocchiaro rehearsed overtakes for the lead in preparation for a last lap battle.
“I was stronger on the exit of Coppice onto the back straight, so I knew if I had enough of a gap going onto the back straight he wouldn’t be close enough to pass me back.”
A last lap overtake at the beginning of the Donington Park National course at the infamous Craner curves let Finocchiaro do exactly that, building a substantial lead before the final chicane.
“I broke a bit later that lap, waiting for a last lap lunge from Ed, but the plan worked and he wasn’t close enough to overtake, so we took the win.”
Trystan was also awarded the Squib Burton trophy by the Donington Park Racing Associaton Club for an excellent performance.
The award has been handed out every year since 1931to race winners in the British Superbike championship, with names like Ron Haslam, and Steve Hislop having been awarded the trophy in the past.
Race 2 saw an enthralling 5 rider battle for the win all race long. Finocchiaro started the race well swapping and changing positions for the lead.
As the race went on Finocchiaro began to suffer on down shifting gears.
“I’m not sure what was going on but for some reason the gears weren’t selecting when I was going down the box, which in such a close battle made overtaking very difficult.”
Finocchiaro decided to watch the battle from the back of the group sitting in 5th in the closing stages of the race.
“I knew I was still strong on corner exit, and so if I was going to overtake it had to be on exit. Heading into the last corner I was 5th, but nailed the exit and clinched 3rd.”
Despite his gear selection issues Finocchiaro still secured a podium place with a nail-biting photo finish, missing out on 2nd place by only 0.019 of a second.
“It was a crazy weekend, we came away with two very good results, scoring more point than anyone else and coming away with the championship lead.”
