In blazing hot temperatures at Snetterton last weekend Sam Burman salvaged fifteenth position overall,
and fifth place of the Moto3 competitors from what started out as a weekend plagued with electrical problems, this result moves the popular Messingham racer up to fifth in the Monster Energy Moto3 British Championship.
The weekend wasn’t without frustration for the WNT Burman Racing team as they struggled through the practice day on Friday with an electrical problem affecting the quick shifter, a loose wire on the connecter proving to be the problem.
During the opening qualifying session on Saturday Sam improved her lap time by over five seconds and would look to improve further during the final qualifying session later that afternoon.
With both air and track temperature soaring to 24 and 48 degrees Celsius respectively, it was not surprising that the riders took a while to match and then improve on their morning times, however, Sam did manage to shave almost a second from her best time to claim 21st position on the grid for Sunday’s televised 12 lap race.
Disappointed with her qualifying position, the team discussed what could be done to improve her feeling with the front end of the bike, particularly when entering the faster corners.
Some big changes were made to the geometry of the bike which Sam tested during race day morning warm-up, after which she decided to keep the settings in the bike for the race as there wasn’t enough time during warm-up to evaluate the settings completely.
Sam made one of her good starts to the race and was running in 18th position at the end of lap one and battled with the Moto3 machine of James Hobson for a couple of laps. As the race progressed Sam had her sights set on the group ahead but just couldn’t quite get on terms with them and finished the race in fifteenth position and fifth in the Moto3 class. The result moves Sam up into fifth position overall in the Monster Energy Moto3 British Championship, a fair achievement considering her unfortunate two non-scores earlier in the season.
“I’ll take 15th place after the tough weekend we had. It’s only just over a week now until Brands Hatch and we’ll come out fighting again in search of a good result.” Sam Burman. By Martin Knighton
