Motostar Assen 2017
Photo: Kerry Rawson

With the Championship title wrapped up by Max Cook at the last round the three riders for Barnsley’s British Moto3 team made their way to the famous Dutch TT circuit at Assen.

Max Cook secured two more podiums with a second place in each race. Whilst Charlie Atkins struggled in the deluge that was race 1 he excelled in the dry, fighting his way back and only just missing the podium. Jake Clark was unable to take part in race one after a big crash in qualifying but came back with an eighth place finish in race two.

Free Practice

The riders got their track action underway in cloudy but dry conditions on Friday morning. After the two free practice sessions Cook was second, Atkins ninth and Clark tenth.

Qualifying

Saturday arrived and so did the rain. Qualifying was damp and proved eventful for the team. On just his third lap Jake Clark touched the paint with his rear wheel and was launched out of the seat. He landed heavily on his hip and also injured his foot. After a visit to the medical team at the circuit Clark was not passed fit to ride that afternoon. Max Cook managed to set the fastest time in qualifying on his very last lap. Charlie Atkins improved on his free practice position qualifying 8th for race 1.

Race One

The rain fell heavily throughout the 10 lap race on Saturday afternoon making it a treacherous affair. All of the front-runners in the championship made a good start to the race. Cook was running second early on with just tenths of a second separating them. Cook went on to finish in the same position at the end of the race. Atkins struggled in the poor conditions but went on to finish inside the top ten with a ninth place.

Race Two

Thankfully the weather forecast was right and the second race took place in dry conditions on Sunday afternoon. Cook overtook several riders on the last lap to secure another second place finish. Charlie Atkins had a superb race. Starting from ninth in his class he made a lightning start. He continued to push and managed to end the race tagged on the back of the leading group, coming home fourth and missing the podium by 0.117 seconds. Jake Clark was fit enough to ride although feeling very sore. He continued to improve his lap times throughout the race and finished with a very satisfactory eighth place.

Gary Wilson said “We’ve had another round where we can feel very happy with our work. Two podiums for Max and Charlie was unlucky not to make it three. Thankfully Jake only suffered bruising after his crash. He showed great character to get back out there and ride through the pain.”

The team are back in action at the last round of the season at the Brands Hatch circuit on the 13th to 15th of October.