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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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Points all round at eventful Oulton round

Points all round at eventful Oulton round

Wilson Racing had a successful start to the 2021 British Talent Cup championship with a fourth place in race one and all three riders scoring points at Oulton Park last weekend. We have had to wait since mid-October 2020 for the new British Talent Cup season to begin but it proved very eventful for the Barnsley based team. This season the three riders competing in the standard Moto3 category of the British Superbike Championship series are James Cook, Ryan Hitchcock and rookie Luca Hopkins. Free practice The event got underway on Friday when around thirty riders competed in two free practice sessions in mixed conditions. In FP1 the riders faced a damp by drying track. James Cook showed his pre-season form when he set the third fastest time. Ryan Hitchcock was just a tenth outside the top ten in 13th position whilst Luca Hopkins spent the time learning the circuit for the first time finishing 24th. The track conditions deteriorated for FP2. James Cook excelled...
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Successful first official BSB test completed at Silverstone

Successful first official BSB test completed at Silverstone

All three of the teams riders were at Silverstone today for the one day opening pre-season test of the season. James Cook managed to end the day in 3rd position overall with a best lap time of 1:02.728 coming in the final session of the day. Ryan Hitchcock clocked a 1:03.024 on the National circuit which placed him fourth overall at the close of play. Rookie Luca Hopkins also impressed. The number 41 slashed almost three seconds off his lap time over the course of the day. Hopkins rounded out the day confidently inside the top ten. ...
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Wilson Racing announce their three riders for 2021

Wilson Racing announce their three riders for 2021

Wilson Racing return to the British Talent Cup with a three-rider line up for 2021. James Cook and Ryan Hitchcock compete for their second season with the team and are joined by 12-year-old rookie Luca Hopkins. James Cook finished an impressive 8th overall in his first season in the class in 2020 with four top six finishes. Ryan Hitchcock also impressed in his rookie season ending the year 10th in the championship standings and scoring points in all 10 races. Whilst the British Talent Cup remains his main focus Ryan also took two British minibike titles in 2020. Although a very competitive championship both James and Ryan are hoping to be challenging for the podium at some tracks during the new season. Luca Hopkins comes into the team having finished runner-up in the British Minibikes Ovhale Cup. Hopkins now wants to step up to Moto3 machinery and has picked the team owned by the vastly experienced Gary Wilson. His goal this season is to...
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Moto3 season ends brightly for Wilson Racing

Moto3 season ends brightly for Wilson Racing

The British Talent Cup Moto3 season concluded at Brands Hatch last weekend with all three team riders back on track. There were two races over the weekend with James Cook finishing 6th in his best of the weekend and Ryan Hitchcock was 10th. Josh Hiatt returned from injury and successfully completed both races. Qualifying All the British Talent Cup riders were sent out on wet tyres for qualifying. There had been rain overnight and the cold temperature of the morning had left the track damp. This was the first time for Hitchcock and Cook on the 2.7 mile GP circuit. It was the returning Josh Hiatt who qualified best of the trio. He lined up 14th on the grid for the first race. James Cook was two places further back in 16th and Ryan Hitchcock posted the 19th best time. Race One Unfortunately for Hiatt his neck issues returned almost immediately the race got underway and he began to slip backwards going on to...
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Wilson Racing results brighten a damp Donington

Wilson Racing results brighten a damp Donington

Despite the poor weather conditions at the British Talent Cup event at Donington Park last weekend, the Moto3 rookies of James Cook and Ryan Hitchcock came through with some great results. In the first race of the weekend Cook finished in a strong sixth position which he followed up with an eighth in race two on the Sunday. As Hitchcock gained confidence in the wet of race one he crossed the line in tenth. Sunday saw him improve further to cross the line in seventh. Qualifying Due to the inclement weather the usual qualifying session held on Saturday morning was cancelled. The race organisers took the best lap times from the two Friday free practice sessions to set up the grid for race one. In the cloudy but dry morning free practice James Cook had registered the seventh fastest lap time whilst teammate Ryan Hitchcock was 11th. The forecast bad weather had already arrived by FP2 meaning the riders were unable to improve their...
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Successful Silverstone for Wilson Racing

Successful Silverstone for Wilson Racing

Wilson Racing completed another confident weekend in the championship at Silverstone last weekend. James Cook battled in the leading group of riders finishing with two sixth places and Ryan Hitchcock knew came through the encounter with an 8th and 7th place finish. They now stand 9th and 10th respectively in the championship in their rookie season. Qualifying Ryan Hitchcock posted a 1:03.096 which was the seventh fastest lap time in qualifying. Team mate James Cook had improved significantly in free practice on Friday and finished the second session fourth quickest. Unfortunately, the thirteen-year-old was unable to repeat that in qualifying and started the race from fourteenth position. The team’s third rider Josh Hiatt had to miss this round after a continuing neck issue ruled him out. Race One Race one was probably one of the most exciting races of the season so far. Whilst Hitchcock lost a place on the opening lap he was about to embark on a roller coaster ride with his teammate,...
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