Fenton Seabright , who rides for Barnsley’s Wilson Racing, had two points scoring finishes in the extremely competitive European Talent Cup series in Jerez, Spain.

The standard Moto3 series is seen as a breeding ground for future MotoGP talent with Wilson Racing one of just two British teams competing in the series.

Qualifying

After a couple of very positive free practice days qualifying took place on Saturday. With nearly 60 riders the format is to split the riders into two groups.

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Fenton Seabright was out in the first group at around nine on Saturday morning. The track temperature was still cool. He recorded a 1:51.020 which put him sixth.

Unfortunately, Seabright miscalculated the time left at the end of the session. This meant he made a late pit stop for fresh rubber but he was unable to make the best use of it. Despite that he had set a good time and the team knew there could be more to come in Q2.

The second session was very early in the afternoon. It is often the case that by Q2 the track temperature has increased so much it is difficult to improve on your morning time.

A combination of the day having not reached its warmest when Q2 began and rider determination saw Fenton manage to improve on his lap time. At the start of the session, the team made an adjustment to his gearing and he set off on used tyres to see how he felt. He returned to the pits after several laps and the team switched back to the original gearing setting which Seabright felt more comfortable with. They put in some fresh rubber too.

With 12 minutes left on the clock Seabright returned to the track and put in two really quick lap times. His best was a 1:50.470 to put him up to fifth overall in qualifying group A.

When the two qualifying groups were combined the result was that Seabright would start the two Sunday races from ninth position.

Race One

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In the melee of the start Fenton Seabright lost out on a number of places finding himself down in 16th by the middle of the lap. After the opening corners the number 47 was able to regain some of those initial losses, finishing the first lap in 13th place.

Whilst the two race leaders were able to open a gap at the front in the early laps, Seabright was in a group of eight riders battling for the positions from 16th to 14th place.

Pushing on and taking his opportunities when they arose, Seabright moved inside the top ten on lap 11.

With the group tightly packed and slipstream proving important Seabright was lying in 11th overall with two laps to go. On the final lap, he was slipstreamed as they approached the finish line and finished 13th at the flag. However, he was penalised for exceeding track limits on the final lap which meant he was classified 13th in the results picking up two more championship points.

Race Two

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Unfortunately, Seabright struggled at the start to the second race as he did in the first. This time he finished the first lap in 16th.

He then went on to spend the entire race in a battle of numerous riders for 8th place.

Fighting with European Talent Cup race winners Ortola and Fermin, the pace was furious. Seabright went on to set his fastest lap time of the weekend, a 1:50.333 and despite that he crossed the line 14th. This time however, he benefited from another rider exceeding track limits and was promoted to 13th and collected three more points.

Fenton Seabright has scored points in seven of the nine races this season so far. His total of 39 championship points places him 14th in the overall standings, in one of the most competitive Moto3 championships in the World.

There are two more races to go. One in Albacete on the 13th October 23019 and the final race is at The Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia on 10 November 2019.

Gary Wilson said, “I am pleased that we scored points in both races. With the pace we were showing in free practice and the progress we were making over the weekend, then with a bit more luck we could have made the top ten. We struggled at the start of both races. Fenton then had to fight with some really fast riders just to maintain position let alone move through the field. This class is so competitive that a tenth here or there makes a huge difference. We know we have the bike, the rider and the team to push on and we will look to do so at the final two rounds.”

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