Wright 'living the dream' after bagging his first British Supersport points

The words of racer Pete Wright, who has been campaign in the British Supersport championship this year, alongside running a home improvements company, looking after his family and competing in club racing championships at the same.

Wright had dipped his toes into the British Superbike support series for the first time in 2019 but this year he has entered pretty much every round and broken numerous personal-best lap times in the process – all while having a lot of fun.

"I have a truly awesome team and I’m so grateful for their super hard work and support," he said.

"That includes my wife, Alison, Mark Daines, Kerstie Daines, and John and Sharon Hutchings. I'm blessed to have these guys supporting my dream.

"I'm also grateful for all the BSB staff, the orange army of marshals and medical staff – and last, but not least, our fantastic sponsors.

"These include DRC Race Leathers, John & Sharon Hutchings, Motorcycle Parts Warehouse, Properly Protected, Putoline, Cradley Kawasaki, Motorbykebitz, NOVOL UK, RUS Scaffolding Services, PCR Performance, Express & Star, MBF Home Improvements Ltd, Profibre, Craig Thompson – and a special thanks to Colin and Di at 100% Suspension LTD.

"Quite simply, without all these people, it just wouldn't be possible to go racing."

Wright was last out in the British Supersport series at Snetterton – and it was one to remember too as he bagged his first championship points despite suffering bike issues from the opening lap.

"Free practice one and two went okay but I was struggling to find a good settings balance on the bike," said Wright.

"We went into qualifying fairly happy with the changes we’d made and I was pretty satisfied – but unfortunately qualifying was cut short with a few minutes to go, which affected our grid position for the sprint race."

Wright still managed to get a good start but by lap three he was getting front-end chatter from his bike, mainly braking into the turn-two hairpin.

"This got worse lap after lap and I was losing the front in lots of places, but although it was a difficult race fighting the bike I picked up my first British championship points, scoring three after finishing in 13th place."

Warm up for feature race followed and a change of gearing "and some great input from Colin at 100% Suspension LTD" made a positive difference.

And when the flag dropped, Wright got another great start and had tagged onto the back of Joe Duggan and Ben Tolliday.

"I felt comfortable getting a tow and then Joe went wide into the hairpin and Ben cut inside, but as they got onto the short straight they came together and I went passed," he said.

"I was expecting them to get back on my tail but on the next lap round I saw Ben’s bike against the barrier at Williams and a few laps later Joe was also sat at the side of the track by the hairpin.

"Meanwhile, I’d started having bike issues of my own with worsening front-wheel vibrations, especially braking into Riches and Brundle where it was really getting a bit hairy, especially as the track was feeling a little slippery in the afternoon heat.

"We found out later in park ferme we’d lost the wheel weights off the front wheel, but after a long race of attrition I finished in eighth, which still feels like a dream. It meant we came away with a haul of 11 points in the championship."