Top 10 turnaround for John McPhee after “destroying the bike” in Donington BSB practice

John McPhee’s Donington BSB began with an almost immediate crash, but ended with three points finishes and two top-10s.

The 2025 British Superbike rookie was therefore able to conclude that it has been a “solid weekend” for him at Donington, his second round of BSB having joined Hawk Racing over the winter.

“Definitely a solid weekend,” McPhee told Crash.net after Race 3 at Donington.

“I’ve apologised a few times but I’m going to do it again to the team for Friday because I had a big crash on the second flying lap of FP1 and completely destroyed the bike.

“They had a big job on, never managed to get out again at all on Friday, and then Saturday FP3 that 10-minute session was my first run out.

“So to nearly go through to Q2 was a really good start, qualified 16th and from then on we kept moving forwards.

“So, a positive two days after Friday, points in all the races and making steps, closing the gap to the guys at the front. Happy overall and something to build on for Snetterton.”

Having got three official tests and now two rounds of BSB under his belt, the MasterMac Honda rider knows the areas he would like to improve in over the next few weeks before the Snetterton round on 20–22 June.

“There’s a few different things,” he said. “I think being able to start further forwards makes a big difference; like, if I could’ve started Race 1 from P9 or P10 and then continue to grow on that it would’ve been a nicer place to be.

“If I could’ve done my lap time from Race 2 [in qualifying] we would’ve been in much better shape.

“I think it’s just that I’m still understanding the Superbike; although I raced Supersport here it’s completely different on a Superbike, so I’m still understanding the tracks.

“I’m going to try to get a couple of days in at Snetterton on my training bike so I can at least know which direction it goes in FP1.

“If we can start having a strong Friday, that will carry us forward for the rest of the weekend.”