Leon and Jonas ready for GP test

Good luck to our FTS Bandits, powered by Keenwood Karpets, duo Leon Flint and Jonas Knudsen in this afternoon’s British SGP2 at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium.

They take their place in the 16-strong line-up of the world’s best under-21 riders at 1pm and will be roared on by a big contingent of Berwick fans who also made themselves heard last night when 19-year-old Leon made his full GP debut.

After soaking in the unique atmosphere in the Welsh capital Leon finally got his chance in heat 12 following the withdrawal of British wildcard Adam Ellis after just one ride. Ellis suffered a dislocated shoulder in a practice crash and our local hero looked at home in a top class field, making a good start before Dan Bewley, Tai Woffinden and Bartosz Zmarzlik took control of the race.

Even better followed four races later when, following Woffinden’s withdrawal, Leon was on-track again with Shielfield skipper Chris Harris, the 2007 winner of the event, offering advice at the pits gate, he made another superb start and looked as comfortable as anyone on the deteriorating temporary track.

Latvian Andzejs Lebedevs gave the Bandits’ man a huge shove into the Cardiff safety fence and paid the price with his exclusion light coming on, In the rerun Leon battled with Freddie Lindgren and Leon Madsen before settling for his first GP point.

His second came in the last of the 20 qualifying heats where he had passed Anders Thomsen before the Dane pulled up and battled with Mikkel Michelsen.

There was just one more job for Berwick’s finest on a memorable night as he was part of the welcoming party for Dan Bewley after the Cumbrian’s triumph in the Grand Final, giving the new British GP Champion the traditional victory bumps.

Before heading off for a bike wash and last minute adjustments before preparing for GP2, Leon said: “To have the opportunity to race in front of your home crowd in the British Grand Prix was something special. Thanks for all the support. As always you can hear the Berwick fans even in a crowd that big and noisy!

“I’m looking forward to hearing them again in SGP2 and I’m sure they’ll be behind Jonas too.

“Obviously I’ve had a bit of track time but I’m not putting too much into that as I’m sure they’re going to be working hard on the track and the surface could be entirely different to Saturday night.

“I’ll be putting everything into my racing.”

If you’re not in Cardiff the SGP2 will be live on Discovery Plus.