Donington delight for Newport's Tom Booth-Amos with best finish
Newport’s Tom Booth-Amos is on a high after recording his best World Supersport Class finish.
And the 28-year-old, who rides for PTR Triumph, achieved it on home soil during round five of the World Supersport Championship at Donington Park.
Three days of action saw Booth-Amos finish seventh in the opening race before claiming a best-yet placing of fifth in the second.
The opening 40-minute session practice session saw the Newport ace lead the opening session until Yari Montella broke the all-time lap record, to claim top spot.
It had looked like Booth-Amos (1.29.776 seconds) would take second, but a late quick lap from Jorge Navarro demoted the Brit into third.
Friday afternoon’s 30-minute Superpole session determined the grid for the opening race of the weekend.
Booth-Amos completed 18 laps and earned himself a spot on the third row of the grid in seventh position, with a time of 1.29.505 – his best Superpole result of the season and only 1.183s behind championship leader Adrian Huertas who took pole.
The opening 19-lap race of the weekend took place Saturday afternoon and there was early drama for Booth-Amos when he received a long-lap penalty for taking a shortcut at the Esses, which dropped him to eight.
Throughout the remaining laps, he battled hard to and eventually finished seventh.
The second Supersport race took place on Sunday afternoon over 19 laps and was red-flagged at the end of the second lap.
The race was restarted with a new shortened duration of 12 laps and Booth-Amos battled with Niki Tuuli and Valentin Debise for fifth position.
On lap eight Booth-Amos passed Valentin Debise for fifth. The pair then swapped position several times before Booth-Amos made a decisive move on the final lap to claim fifth position over the line.
As well as being Booth-Amos’s best finish to date in the World Supersport Class it was also the first time a British rider has finished in the top five of a World Supersport race in 11 years.
The next round of the World Supersport Championship takes place at Most in the Czech Republic this weekend.
