Synetiq BWM’s Danny Buchan heads to Brands Hatch fifth in the Bennetts British Superbike Championship as 2021 draws to a close.

Buchan’s first year on the BMW M1000 has certainly been eventful, from a double win at Knockhill to missing races due to concussion, but he’s still in the running after a rollercoaster season.

“I actually had a little bit of a think about that yesterday, and I was actually a little bit gutted,” Buchan admitted, of his season so far. “Because I thought to myself, if I actually finished - when I was in second at Donington - if I’d have finished that race in second place, and had like a not bad third race, I probably would have been somewhere close to fighting for the championship in the last round! But considering I’ve had an up and down season, with wins, podiums, DNF’s and a little bit of bad luck along the way, considering all that I’m actually still in a very good position, being fifth in the championship. It’s weird to think that.

“I spoke to Jake [Dixon] the other day and we were both laughing saying ‘nobody wants to win this championship’,” he continued. “Everyone’s sort of letting everyone else go along and win it. It’s definitely been a funny season, and obviously with the back-to-back races, if you get injured you have to miss the next race and that’s what happened to me Donington to Cadwell. So yeah, it’s been strange but I’m in a good position. I’m fifth, it’s my first year with the Synetiq BMW team, the first year of the M 1000 and we’re not having a bad year.”

The Essex rider finds himself technically still in the title fight heading into the climatic final round, and while 66 points adrift means he’s not mathematically out of the running, its a tall ask of the 28-year-old, especially with the action seen over recent rounds.

“I really, really believe that the top four are going to take chunks out of each other,” Buchan predicted, looking ahead to the weekend’s final three races.

“My goal is to be on the podium anyway, because I think where we’ve come with the bike and how far the bike’s come on. Like when we revisited Donington Park this year, from the first time, we’ve made a massive step forward and we were fighting for the podium so I really believe - we left Brands with three fourth places and quite close to the podium in three races. I think we’re definitely good enough to have podiums there and that’s the aim for me but I really think the top four are going to just beat each other up. Because, obviously for everyone now, for them four guys in front, they can all win the championship. So that’s going to be interesting.

“In an ideal world I’d like to be out front with a huge gap behind, just having a nice easy race and letting them decide what they will do. That would be a lovely weekend! If I could just have three wins, nice and easy, at the front, lovely but it’s not going to go like that. It’s going to be a battle!

“I’m actually probably gonna approach it a little bit more relaxed because it would take a miracle for me to win the championship,” he continued.

“It would be achievable but very hard to get fourth place in the championship. So, I mean the goal is obviously to finish top five but fifth place or eighth place in the championship isn’t really nothing to me, you know, that doesn’t change much, like if I’m fifth place or eighth place it’s not the end of the world, obviously, is what it is. So, not ‘bin it or win it’ as such but my aim is just to go there, have three really strong races, take loads of data away, and to bring some trophies home, that’d be lovely.”

Buchan admits that he would like to stay with the BMW team for next year, and while there have been discussions, nothing, as yet, has been signed. The long winter break, however, provides a chance to relax away from racing and concentrate on other avenues before refocussing ahead of the 2022 attack.

“I’m involved in other businesses as well,” he explains “so I’ll take a little bit of time off training, maybe like a couple of weeks. I’m going to start a new running programme because I’m really into my running and just enjoy a bit, without the pressures of the specific training I do for racing. I like to just make a bit of time for the family because obviously things are busy. It’s been crazy hasn’t it!

“I’ll just enjoy myself, go on holiday with the family and then I guess just start again, training in January, ready for the new season next year.”