As the 2023 FIM Supersport World Championship rumbles through each round, key stories are coming to life and that’s what happened at Donington Park for the Prosecco DOC UK Round. Taking a career-best sixth place finish at a circuit he loves, Britain’s Tom Booth-Amos (Motozoo ME AIR Racing) was right in the mix across the whole weekend and was one of the riders to watch throughout.
Battling hard, the 27-year-old from Shropshire in England was looking like one of the podium contenders right through the weekend, but then in Tissot Superpole, he suffered a crash at the start of the session on the exit of the Foggy Esses. After getting the bike back to the pits, the team worked frantically to get the #69 back out on circuit but it was to no avail, as he got out but not to set a new lap time, leaving him mired in 13th and on the fifth row of the grid.
However, British grit, determination and pluckiness saw Booth-Amos keep his cool come the races, surging through the field to take a ninth in Race 1, capitalising on a late collision for Marcel Schroetter (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) and Valentin Debise (GMT94 Yamaha) at the final corner on the last lap. Having to come through again in Race 2, it was an even better race for the Brit, with track position being key. He got a flying start and was already ninth by the end of Lap 1, five places higher than his Race 1 opening lap.
From there, he was able to get ahead of Niki Tuuli (Dynavolt Triumph) for P8, as well as Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) for P6, with Stefano Manzi (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) also crashing and re-joining behind. Manzi and Booth-Amos battled on track with the Italian getting ahead twice at the Melbourne Loop, leaving home-hero Booth-Amos in P7. However, a dramatic highside for Marcel Schroetter on the exit of the final corner pushed him up to sixth, which he held until the flag.
Speaking about his career-best result, the 27-year-old was elated with what was a breakthrough ride: “That’s what we’ve been aiming for all year but it’s been difficult with the new electronics. We’ve been trying to figure it out since we started but now it’s starting to come together. Every weekend, we can see the progress. I know I can do it so that’s the main thing. Being at home gave me a bit more motivation to get a good result. I love going to Donington Park, and it’s one of my favourite tracks so I kind of new that I’d go well there, especially after what I did in BSB. We weren’t expecting it but we knew we’d be up there somewhere. It didn’t really help crashing in Superpole and starting so far back as it made my life such hard work, that’s for sure!”
Up next for Booth-Amos, Imola, a circuit which he hasn’t visited before, but the double top ten from Donington Park will be just the springboard the three-time WorldSSP300 race winner wants, as he looks to make it a hat-trick of top ten results on the bounce in consecutive races for the first time since graduating to World Supersport.
“For the next few rounds, I’ve proved my point and I know I can run at the front. I just have to carry it on,” said the #69, who is back in action at Snetterton for British Supersport duties this weekend, where he’s third in the Championship with two wins. “The team know I can do it; obviously, we’re still on the old 600cc Supersport bike, so it’s not easy against the new Next Generation bikes. As long as we keep doing what we’re doing, pushing for the top six or top eight every weekend, that’s the goal moving forward. Thanks to the team for working hard and fixing the electronics issues we’ve had this year.”
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Source: WorldSBK.com