TEENAGE racer Jake Clark made a wildcard appearance in the Hel Performance Motostar British standard class Moto3 Championship at Snetterton over the weekend.
More accustomed to the restricted RRV450R Aprilia, the 14-year-old from Bromsgrove had to learn to ride the more powerful and much lighter Honda NSF250R Moto3 as well as learning a new track.
Last Friday was a day to learn how to handle the tiny machine and get to grips around the Snetterton 300 circuit layout in Norfolk.
There were two free practice sessions and by the end of the day Clark had grown in confidence.
While his lap time were not important, his increased confidence had already helped him drop his times by nearly three seconds.
Clark then set about qualifying on Saturday morning but it did not go to plan.
He accidentally hit the kill switch early doors when trying to use the quickshifter before the session was red flagged due to an accident.
Qualifying restarted with four minutes remaining and Clark was quick to try and make use of the time available.
However, he then suffered a technical issue with the bike which meant he failed to register a time.
But Clark was allowed onto the grid as race control had seen enough during the practice sessions.
Of the afternoon, Clark lined up at the back of the grid for the race and was immediately confronted with a couple of crashes ahead of him on the first lap.
Remaining calm, he brought his Honda home in 13th place to pick up three championship points.
Clark was excited to start the 12-lap race on Sunday after his first Moto3 experience and once again he climbed up the places from the back of the grid.
His increased confidence showed as he set his fastest lap time of the weekend in two minutes, 10.577 seconds.
He went on to cross the line in 11th spot to pick up an additional five points.
Clark said: “This was my first time on a Moto3 machine.
“It is so different to what I’ve ridden before.
“It is faster and easier to handle in the corners and very exciting.
“I would like to thank Gary and Nikita at Wilson Racing for the opportunity and hopefully we can raise the money to continue in the class.”
