Rhys Stephenson happy with 'amazing' debut in Honda British Talent Cup
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Skegness youngster Rhys Stephenson enjoyed a promising debut weekend in the Honda British Talent Cup.
Competing at Oulton Park as part of the British Superbike support series, Rhys qualified in 18th position, finishing race one 11tha nd race two in 15th spot.
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Hide Ad"I got off to a good start but, unfortunately, the race was red flagged due to a nasty crash," Rhys said of race one.
"We were sent back to pit lane, once the track was clear we did a warm up lap with a quick start procedure.
"With a few people missing from the grid I started in 16th place but I didn’t get such a good start this time and lost my position but once in a better rhythm I managed to gain some places on track and some places by default and finished the race in 11th place."
Reflecting on race two, where he began 13th, he added: "I had my hopes up for a top 10 finish, but I had a really rubbish start.
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Hide Ad"Whilst trying to make up for my poor start, I ended up taking a rather big diversion on to the grass, on the first lap.
"Luckily, I managed to keep the bike upright and back out on to the track but, unfortunately, I was in last place.
"I pushed hard to get back up the pack and with four laps left to go I had managed to get myself in to 16th place."
A further red flag saw Rhys moved to 15th spot.
"I’ve had an amazing first weekend, scoring six points overall, putting me 15th place in the championship on my debut weekend," he added.
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Hide Ad"I’m really looking forward to the second round at Knockhill in Scotland (July 10-11)."
Rhys, who rides under team name Rocket Racing, is also pleased to announce that he has secured some local funding for this year.
Rhys is still actively looking for sponsorship for 2021 and beyond, if that is something you or your company would like to be involved with, you can get in touch with via Facebook
Rhys would like to take this opportunity to thank his sponsors for their support: Claire & Simon Pell from Pell Plant Hire in Hogsthorpe, Glyn Pocklington at Slipstream Motorcycles and Peter and Joe Chapman at Autofix.