Failed Aragon WorldSBK ‘helped’ Jake Dixon despite early withdrawal
Jake Dixon says his failed Aragon WorldSBK return “was still helping me” despite having to withdraw after the first race.
Ahead of his return to racing at the UK WorldSBK, Jake Dixon has defended his decision to try to return earlier in the year at Aragon.
Dixon had missed the entirety of the WorldSBK season up to Aragon after suffering wrist and hand fractures in testing at Phillip Island.
The Aragon return saw Dixon complete Race 1, finishing 16th, but he withdrew afterwards and missed both Sunday races. The British rider also pulled out of the Emilia-Romagna WorldSBK two weeks later, although this was not his choice.
“Honestly, I wanted to try in Misano, it was only the team that said no, and I fought the team hard, and I tried to get on the test a few days after and they fought me against that,” Jake Dixon said ahead of the UK WorldSBK, where the Honda rider is making his second attempt at returning to racing after the Phillip Island injuries.
“My mentality is that I would try all day long to try and come back.
“It’s a credit to the team as well because they have kept me calm in a sense, that they want me to be as close to full fitness as I can possibly be.
“Maybe I came back too early, but also it [Aragon] was still helping me recover in a way, I just wasn’t able to do the two races on the Sunday.
“So, I’m much better than I was four weeks ago, that’s for sure, so I expect myself to be able to do three races no problem.”
Dixon took part in a test at Donington ahead of making his return there. He hadn’t ridden there since leaving BSB in 2018, and the size of the circuit came as a “shock”.
“Fucking busy, and narrow – really narrow,” he said of the track.
“After riding like Silverstone, and a lot of the grand prix tracks are quite wide, coming back here is quite a shock, especially riding the big bike here.
“It took me a few laps to get into it, to readjust the brain again, and where I’ve not got into a rhythm at all this year of riding, it’s hard to then keep jumping on the bike, jumping off and not riding off for a month or just a bit.
“I think, now I’m back I can get some consistency back and start to ride more and try to understand.
“I learnt a lot of things from looking at Johnny’s [Jonathan Rea] data for how to ride a Superbike and he’s the prime example.
“If you were going to look at anyone for how to ride one, it’s him. Now I need to start to adapt, learn, get into a rhythm, and understand everything.”
Alex joined the Crash.net team in August of 2024 having covered consumer and racing motorcycle news at Visordown for two years.
