Bright and warm weekend for round 4 of the R&G BTC.

Bright and warm weekend for round 4 of the R&G BTC.

Round 4 of the R&G British Talent Cup saw the Wilson Racing riders battling it out on the Snetterton 300 circuit in Norfolk over the weekend. With the weather set to be warm all weekend it would provide the riders with lots of great opportunity’s as well as a tricky Race 2. With all 3 riders previously riding here, it would provide the vital knowledge needed to tackle this complex circuit. FP1 and the riders were already on it with respectable times finishing the session with Harrison 7th, Ben 21st and Sully in 6th. FP2 later that Friday afternoon would see one of the warmest sessions of the weekend, and with the temperatures high the riders kept on pushing hard coming across the line in 14th for Harrison, 18th for Ben and 4th for Sully. Saturday and it was finally time for qualifying. All riders gave it their best and with a red flag being bought out mid-way through the session...
Read More
Hot weekend at Thruxton

Hot weekend at Thruxton

Race report Thruxton round 7 British Talent Cup. Its been a very hot weekend for the Wilson Racing boys down at Thruxton with lots of high temperatures leading to lots of action packed racing. The weekend started on Friday with FP1 being held early in the morning meaning it wasn't too hot for the riders as they reminded themselves of the track, as when they were here last year it was torrential rain leading to race 2 being called off. After FP1 the boys were happy with finding their way around the track with Harrison coming in 11th with a time of 1.24.792, and Sullivan coming in 15th with a time of 1.25.050. FP2 was held in the afternoon of Friday with temperatures beginning to heat up to where the air temperature was 32 degrees and the track was hot as well at 47 degrees. Both riders were happy with how FP2 went with both riders improving on their times from the morning...
Read More
Wilson Racing finish the season with solid points at Donington

Wilson Racing finish the season with solid points at Donington

Barnsley’s Wilson Racing ended the British Talent Cup season at Donington Park this weekend with a 7th place finish and DNF for James Cook, a 16th and 13th for Luca Hopkins and for Ryan Hitchcock who had been out injured since Thruxton at the end of July a 22nd and 14th place finish. Free Practice and Qualifying There was a wet start to the weekend at Donington Park. The first free practice session was a damp affair. Late on in the session rain began to fall. James Cook finished 21st quickest, Luca Hopkins was 23rd and Ryan Hitchcock 34th as the Wilson Racing team felt their way around the track. The second free practice session was dry and the youngsters were able to significantly improve their lap times and confidence. James Cook posted the fourth fastest lap time with Ryan Hitchcock finishing 21st. Luca Hopkins was 24th. From Friday’s free practice the British Talent Cup riders started Saturday morning early with their qualifying...
Read More
Top ten finish at Silverstone

Top ten finish at Silverstone

James Cook crashed out in race one at Luffield having just taken the lead before finishing tenth in race two. Luca Hopkins came across the line in 14th in the first race and then went on to pick up another championship point for fifteenth in the second race. Cook is 7th in the championship standings on 135 points and rookie Hopkins is in 21st place with 21 points. Free Practice and Qualifying FP1 was wet and with the forecast suggested the rest of the weekend would be dry the Wilson Racing riders decided to stay in the garage for the first 30-minute session. In FP2 Hopkins and Cook were keen to get some track time but just three laps into the session the rain began to fall again proving that the British weather is unpredictable as ever. The track was also wet for qualifying and with little track time the number 34 of Cook and the 41 of Hopkins did well to post...
Read More
Successful Snetterton

Successful Snetterton

Wilson Racing came away from Snetterton with three points-scoring finishes. Cook bounced back from the two DNFs at Silverstone with a sixth and fifth position finishes. Luca Hopkins ended his first race in the pits after a racing incident but returned to the points finishing 14th in race two. Free Practice Team owner, Gary Wilson, spent most of the week between Silverstone and Snetterton rebuilding James Cook’s bike that took serious damage after he was knocked off by another rider in the last round. In fact, the team were still at work on the Moto3 machine on Thursday evening. When Friday free practice one got underway Cook managed 14th in FP1 and improved to finish 10th in FP2 as he regained some of his confidence with his Honda NSF 250. Luca Hopkins was looking forward to his weekend at Snetterton. It was the first time the rookie had raced at a track he had ridden before, as the British Talent Cup riders had...
Read More
Hopkins in the points as luck abandons Cook at Silverstone

Hopkins in the points as luck abandons Cook at Silverstone

Wilson Racing rookie, Luca Hopkins made a positive finish to the British Talent Cup MotoGP weekend at Silverstone with a 13th place in race two. James Cook showed podium pace throughout the two races but failed to finish both after being brought down but through no fault of his own. Free Practice and Qualifying The number 43 of James Cook put together a solid start to the weekend after qualifying in tenth position on Friday afternoon. Luca Hopkins also made fine progress on day one. Having been 29th at the end of free practice one he went on to end the day qualifying seven places higher in 22nd. Race One The British Talent Cup riders had to wait until 16:30 for their next track action on the Saturday. With huge anticipation the thirty plus riders lined up on the grid at the long 5.9 kilometre Silverstone circuit. Lights out and the longest laps of the BTC calendar began. Cook was quickly up from tenth to...
Read More
Double podium at Donington National

Double podium at Donington National

The was double podium delight as James Cook took two 3rd place finishes from the three races at Donington Park National Circuit in the British Talent Cup. A DNF in race three was the only small blot on the copybook from an otherwise outstanding performance. Rookie Luca Hopkins narrowly missed out on adding to his championship points tally with two 16th and a 17th place finish. Free practice Wilson Racing was reduced to two team members this round as the unfortunate Ryan Hitchcock had not recovered sufficiently from a broken left wrist suffered at the last round at Thruxton. James Cook was quickly up to speed in the two free practice sessions on Friday. He was inside the top five during free practice one before reducing his lap time by a further half-a-second in free practice two to finish the day third fastest overall. The number 41 of Luca Hopkins had an eventful Friday. In the first free practice he suffered a small crash...
Read More
Top five at Thruxton

Top five at Thruxton

The British weather had a profound effect on the British Talent Cup event and Barnsley’s Wilson Racing at Thruxton this weekend. James Cook recovered well from a difficult start to finish race one in a commendable fifth position. Rookie teammate Luca Hopkins crossed the finish line in 14th whilst Ryan Hitchcock was unable to compete after crashing in free practice when strong winds caused him to fall and break his left wrist. Race two was cancelled after heavy rainfall. James Cook now has 76 points and is 4th overall in the British Talent Cup. Ryan Hitchcock is 10th on 44 points and Luca Hopkins is 19th with 13. Free practice Free practice proved to be a challenging time for the Wilson racing team. With strong winds and mixed weather on Friday, two of the three-team members suffered crashes on the opening day. James Cook was 2nd quickest in the opening free practice session with Ryan Hitchcock 11th and Luca Hopkins 27th as the three...
Read More
Double podium at Brands Hatch

Double podium at Brands Hatch

James Cook rode two fantastic British Talent Cup Moto3 races at Brands Hatch last weekend for Barnsley’s Wilson Racing. The 13-year-old took third place in the first race and narrowly missed the win in race two finishing just 0.061 seconds behind the winner. Teammate Ryan Hitchcock took a fantastic fourth and fifth-place finish whilst rookie Luca Hopkins collected another championship point for 15th in race two after a 17th position in the first outing. Free practice The weekend could not have got off to a much better start for Wilson Racing. In Free practice, one Ryan Hitchcock registered a lap time of 1:38.508 that put him at the top of the timesheet with James Cook just behind in second. If FP2 the roles were reversed with Cook leading from Hitchcock as the Wilson Racing boys had the other riders taking note. Rookie teammate Luca Hopkins was learning the famous Brands Hatch GP circuit and finished the day inside the top 20. Qualifying After the dry...
Read More
Wilson racing close to a podium finish at Knockhill

Wilson racing close to a podium finish at Knockhill

Barnsley based Wilson Racing British Talent Cup Moto3 team saw all three of its riders score points at round two at Knockhill. James Cook (13) just missed the podium by under half a second in race two finishing fourth. Hitchcock (13) came back from a crash in race one to take 9th in the second outing and rookie Hopkins (13) scored points in both encounters. The short 1.3-mile circuit was missed off the calendar last year in the abridged pandemic affected season so it was a new track for all three riders. Free practice On Saturday thirty British Talent Cup riders had two 30-minute free practice sessions. There was a red flag early in FP1 after one rider fell and his bike was stranded on the straight coming out of Clarke corner. James Cook was 16th at the time, Hitchcock 10th and Hopkins 19th. It didn’t take long for the race marshals to get the track clear and the session was underway again. As...
Read More