@Pata @Honda rider Kyle Smith is aiming to get back to the podium in round six of the 2015 World Supersport championship this weekend at Donington Park in the UK.
Strangely enough, despite an increased number of friends and relatives watching him in action this weekend, Huddersfield-born Smith doesn’t see the Donington race as his home round as much as Aragon or perhaps Jerez, having moved to Spain with his family at the age of six.
In fact, despite racing at world championship level in Moto2 and now World Supersport, Smith has never raced at Donington Park or, indeed, any other British circuit so this weekend will mark his UK racing debut.
However, the 23-year-old is certainly keen to return his Pata Honda CBR600RR to the front of the World Supersport pack after disappointingly crashing out of the fifth-round race at Imola in Italy two weeks ago.
Smith remounted at Imola in last position and fought his way back to 15th place taking a single point at the chequered flag, but he and his Pata Honda team know that a repeat of the podium results he has already scored at Aaragon and Assen this season should be within his grasp at Donington.
Kyle Smith
It’s strange to think that although I’m an English rider, I’ve never raced in the UK before. But I’m really looking forward to my debut and there’ll be quite a few family and friends coming over from Yorkshire, as well as my family from Spain. It’ll also sound a bit weird that I’m hoping it’ll be cold at Donington because I think that will reduce the front-end problems we had when we were at Imola. It’s important to get back to the front and challenge for wins as well as podium finishes. The circuit looks mega fast and fun, but I won’t be able to let you know just how much fun until I’ve ridden it on Friday morning.
Pieter Breddels - technical co-ordinator
Like some other teams, we really suffered from a limited front tyre choice at Imola and Kyle struggled with a lack of front-end grip all weekend, which ultimately led to him crashing early in the race. When the track temperature gets hotter, the CBR needs some more tyre options than we had at our disposal. But we’re expecting cooler temperatures this weekend at Donington so we look forward to Kyle being right back on the pace and fighting for those podium positions once more.
