CIA Insurance Honda’s Jack Kennedy is relishing his debut podium in the World Supersport class, after the Irish rider successfully took the second spot on the rostrum in Portimao.
The Dubliner has got back his confidence, which took a knock at the last round at Misano where he could only muster up 12th place finish – but this track is a favourite of the rider, and it certainly showed this afternoon.
“It is a track I really enjoy and whenever we test here we have always done really good during testing. After Misano it got me really down, as I finished in P12 and I bust my arse off to get that,” said Kennedy, speaking to bikesportnews.com from the circuit.
“After that I isolated myself from everyone as I was so down about it, but I trained really hard and remained positive. The team have given me a great bike this weekend. If I missed the slip-stream I would have lost out on two or three tenths and I would have been buggered.”
Pata Honda’s Michael Van Der Mark took the eventual race win, and Kennedy thought the championship leader had the advantage, in particular with corner exit speed, making him uncatchable out on track.
“Van Der Mark was really good on the start and finish, but I was able to catch up with Sofuoglu. But Van Der Mark's bike was so much better, especially on the corner exit as he was able to get back on the gas sooner than me and I had to wait for mine to settle down before I could get on it.
“I have definitely got areas that I need to improve on going forward, and I want to keep this form up. If I got a bad result I wouldn’t know what do to, but going into the long break I am now happy, as I have got the podium I wanted.”
