Ollerton’s Lynden Leatherland getting to grips with higher standard of racing

Despite three DNFs, Lynden currently sits in a creditable fourth place in the Cup Series only six points down on third place with the next round at Brands Hatch.

It was always going to be a huge challenge with the jump to the Quattro Group Supersport equivalent to Mansfield Town moving up to the Championship.

He has nonetheless gritted his teeth and started to acclimatise to competing at the top level of Supersport racing in the UK.

“It’s been very much a year of learning with plenty of ups and downs,” said the 25-year-old.

“The big thing for me has been having to re-learn the set-up of the bike, both in terms of gearing, suspension and the use of more electronics such as changing the engine braking. If I don’t get that right it is simply not possible to push hard in the races.”

Lynden has access to two R6 Yamahas for this season, one of which is basically a stock bike that he uses in the No Limits Racing Pirelli Super Series and a slightly more upgraded bike for the BSB series.

The reason for this is the fact the BSB bike is more expensive to maintain and run, so the team simply can't afford to run it in both of the race series, meaning he competes against higher spec machines in the No Limits series.

The season started in earnest back in March at a very cold and wet Snetterton, competing in round one of the No Limits series.

Hopes were high for a good result, but the racing gremlins struck, with the team suffering from electrical problems, later identified as a faulty switch which, when put together with the weather, placed Lynden at the back of the grid for the races.

He still managed to come away with some useful points and things improved at the following rounds at Donington and Cadwell where he finished just off the podium.

The Knockhill crash, which was Lynden’s biggest crash to date, meant he missed the last round at Croft due to suffering a concussion, but he sits in an admirable sixth place in the NL championship, only 10 points down on fifth position with several rounds still to go.

The Quattro Group British Supersport series has been a real eye opener for the team and at that level, simply qualifying for a race is an achievement.

Lynden’s first round was at Oulton Park back in May with 57 riders trying to qualify for the 38 available grid slots.

This was repeated at the next round at Donington Park where he comfortably qualified for both races.

The race format is that there are two races per weekend, a shorter duration race on Saturday and a longer race on the Sunday.

Both races are televised live on Eurosport and Discovery Plus and Lynden seemed to start a bit of a habit of racing really well in the Saturday race and then testing the effectiveness of his Arai helmet and Scott leathers in the Sunday race, by crashing.

“You have to push so hard in these races as the competition is so fierce and the slightest mistake can lead to unfortunate consequences,” he said.

“At Donington I tried to brake that little bit later going into the Melbourne Loop and just tucked the front, meaning no points in the Sunday race.’

“Hopefully as you will have seen from last week’s Snetterton race report that things have taken a turn for the better, with solid Cup points in both races.

“I feel as though we now have a better understanding of the bike, and I am really looking forward to the remainder of the season.

“The aim now is to continue to learn, to improve and finish as high as possible in both championships. I have improved my best lap times at each of the circuits we have visited so far, so things are on the up.

“A huge thanks goes out to all of the sponsors who have made this possible, in particular GL Fabrications, Munson Transport, Derek and Katy Kitson, AM Power LTD, Glenn’s Low-Cost Tyres and Paul Thompson. Without their support the team would simply not be racing.”