MichaelBurton94 BSB reporter, bike lover, born in the wrong era, britpop music worshipper and works in marketing for Club Doncaster
The RAF Regular and Reserves Kawasaki team are one of many privateer outfits on the Bennetts British Superbike grid, and competing against the factory backed JG Speedfit squad has been a tough ask.
But, Hardy said no matter what support his team receives from the manufacturer, it’s been a year to remember.
“At the moment it’s probably the wrong time to talk about that because at the moment you reflect on the bad things, but when we get home we’ll re-group.
“We’ve had that feeling all year, the team has done fantastic job and the sponsors we have onboard they’re all a part of this journey aswell, and without them we couldn’t do this.
“We are a small team, we go about our business the right way, we don’t concentrate on the things we don’t need to concentrate on and we make sure the effort we put in is 100%.
“Like I say it’s been a fantastic year, it’s just a shame with Jake going next year that he couldn’t have gone with being Champion. We aren’t talking negatively it’s just a long way out of reach, but anything can happen, there is a possibility that we could still do it.”
It was an emotional time for Dixon and Hardy, who showed their dismay clearly on Sunday afternoon, with the pair breaking into tears as he returned to the garage.
But Hardy admitted that he wasn’t afraid to show his emotion, something that he feels isn’t portrayed enough in the Bennetts British Superbike paddock.
“People don’t want to try and show their emotions, but we did. Both me and Jake had a hug and tear together because like I say I want it as much as him, and he wants it as much as me.
“I think that’s a big problem with a lot of the teams in the paddock, they aren’t prepared to show their emotions and sometimes with that the riders don’t always feel 100% they don’t have the support behind them.
“We’ve had 10 or 20 seconds of emotions between us, like I say we’ll continue to re-group and we will concentrate going forward to Brands.”
It remains to be seen whether or not Dixon will head to the Moto2 World Championship as the 2018 Bennetts British Superbike Champion, but with the maths stacking against him and the consistency of Haslam, it is looking more and more unlikely he’ll lift the trophy.
Tickets for the final round of the 2018 season are available from brandshatch.msv.com with prices starting from £38 for full weekend admission.
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