Jake Dixon - Championship position: 7th - Points: 156 - Podium credits: 17
RAF Reserves Kawasaki team boss Lee Hardy is either an excellent judge of upcoming talent or a jammy bastard as he snaffled Jake Dixon on an extended deal in the middle of last season and has been rewarded with a double win and three other MCE British Superbike podium finishes.
It is not uncommon when talking to the paddock’s older heads for Dixon to be compared to Leon Camier - same sort of talent and same sort of verging-on-horizontal laidback attitude - of a similar vintage. Dixon has no shortage of outward self-belief and he is verging on a Showdown spot as he trails sixth-placed Luke Mossey by just five points as we head into Silverstone.
Dixon’s season began slowly with a smattering of points and some non-finishes but Hardy swept out some existing team-members, brought in some new ones including the vastly-experienced Glen Richards as an advisor, and everything changed.
Hardy was rewarded with a double win at the very next round up in Scotland - something absolutely no-one inside or outside the team expected - and Dixon has been at the sharp end ever since. The confidence is high and has been further boosted by an excellent Moto2 debut at Silverstone. Dixon is looking forward to returning to the Northants track.
“Silverstone can’t come soon enough. The way I have been riding in recent rounds there should be no reason why we can’t be in the top six. Luke Mossey is ahead of me in the standings so really I need to finish ahead of him in the races, but to be honest I am not completely focused on that; my aim is to go out and win all three races,” said Dixon.
“I have nothing to lose because I am not currently in the top six, so my aim is to win and be fighting for podiums. I am just going to go about my business as usual, but for sure it would be great if we can be in the title fight so I can try and be the youngest ever winner. It was frustrating to end Cadwell Park with a crash but I am ready to come out and give it everything at Silverstone.”
