Brands Hatch saw a positive return for DAO Racing with good results for both sides of the garage, despite #83 and #51 requiring rebuilds due to incidents on Saturday and Sunday.

With a strong history at his home circuit, Danny Buchan left the weekend finally feeling more comfortable on the DAO Racing Kawasaki and thanks to the great Terry Rymer joining him on his side of the garage for the weekend, feeling a return to form on the superbike.

For Brayden Elliott leaveing round 6 with multiple targets hit and personal bests achieved, he is focussed and looking forward to continuing his progression at Thruxton 9-11th August.

Race Results

#83 Danny Buchan: P10, DNF, P16

#51 Brayden Elliott: P21, P19, P21

Danny Buchan, Superbike Rider #83:

“Well that was a lot better and I think maybe the first time I feel I can be really positive looking back over the weekend. It was a great weekend, credit to the team. We left FP2 critising me rather than the bike, which has been a good thing. We’ve been trying all year to get the bike in a sweet spot and we’ve done that, it was really good but the results don’t quite fit the weekend we’ve had.

We had a P10 in qualiying and race one, and started at P8 in race two this morning but had a coming together with Danny Kent and unfortunately we both went down, so I had to start from the back of the grid for race three. I had a few little issues from the crash which caused me to not get the best out of the bike in the last race, so although I’m a little frustrated after the last race, overall it’s been a really positive weekend and I can’t thank the team enough. It’s been a hard start to the year, a lot of perserverance and determination from all of us. So, I’m really grateful for the team and looking forward to taking the positives onto Thruxton.”

Brayden Elliott, Superbike Rider #51:

“Overall it’s been a positive weekend, a few ups and downs, with a crash in qualifying, but at the same time I was pushing really hard and I did my best ever superbike lap just before that and on a big positive I did my quickest ever lap around Brands Hatch on any bikes. So, that’s a big take away from the weekend as one of my targets for the weekend was to get my quickest ever lap.

Another big plus in the final race today, I improved over the race distance by 9 seconds, so that was a really big achievement for me. I’m deinitely leaving in a positive mindset, with a few improvements within myself and understanding the superbike, so overall it’s been a good weekend.”

Jonny Bagnall, Team Manager:

“For Brayden it was a solid weekend, yes he had a litle tip off in qualifying, which slightly knocked his confidence, but he kept improving throughout the weekend and has been as fast as he ever was round the track, and close to getting in the 1.26’s which was his goal, but ended up on a 1.27.0. So yeah, what we expected of him and improvements again over the weekend. We didn’t change the bike too much, and he is making changes in himself which gained us the time, so overall yes the results weren’t ideal of where he’d like to be, but it was a strong weekend.

As far as Danny goes, there was definitely a buzz around him over the weekend. He had much better improvements than Snetterton, qualifying went well with a few tactical choices by the team and going out on second hand tyres in Q2, but still managed to put in a top 10 time. Race one went really well, with a first top 10 of the year and battling for P8, then race two unfortunately he was involved in a racing incident taking him out of the race, I’m glad all riders involved are ok. With the unfortunate restart and new rule (regarding the red flag/restart), Danny was required to start from the back of the grid and unfortunately then just missed out on scoring some points, but was in a close train of about 7 riders for a majority of the race, making up 9 places.

So, yes again I don’t think the results reflects the effort that’s gone in, it just shows that the things we are doing are ticking boxes and we’re moving forward. I’m really looking forward to getting on with it at Thruxton and keep that progress going.”