The two bike issues that wrecked Danny Kent’s Sunday at Oulton Park BSB

After qualifying down in 17th, Danny Kent’s Oulton Park BSB was not looking to be his brightest weekend, but things deteriorated even further on Sunday.

Kent was unable to start Race 2 as a result of a bike problem that began in Warm Up.

He explained afterwards that the problem was similar to one he’d experienced before, but this time the cause was more severe and, as a result, fixing it required more time than was available before the start of Race 2.

“So, in Warm Up, after about two laps, in Shell Oils, in second gear, I opened the throttle and it went real flat, which I thought was strange, but it’s not uncommon because something similar happened in Race 2 at Brands Hatch: it just went really rich,” Kent explained to Crash.net after BSB Race 3 at Oulton Park.

“So, I carried on for the rest of the Warm Up, and then when we came in, checked the data. They could see that it went really rich. 

“We’ve had another problem earlier in the year where we’ve just had to change two things and it fixed it. 

“They did that, and it turned out it was a problem with the engine, so we found that out just before the first race of today [Race 2] and there wasn’t enough time [to fix it]. 

“Then, in Race 3, we had a different engine and again a part broke, which was out of everyone’s control – I think it was a jubilee clip broke and some water got onto my rear wheel and that caused me to crash. So, not a good Sunday.”

Kent’s Sunday did not improve much in Race 3 – he was able to start, but crashed at turn one, high-siding as a result of a different bike problem.

The Cheshire Mouldings Yamaha rider said the Race 3 issue was “completely separate” to what forced him to miss the start of Race 2.

“A part broke, which meant [...] my belly pan was full of water, so it just got onto my rear wheel and I crashed,” he explained.

Kent continued: “One of them days. Racing, it’s not good sometimes. Try and turn the year around, we need to.”