Great Britain racer Dan Thompson was pleased to enjoy “a much better night” as he reached the last-chance qualifiers at the DeWalt FIM SGP2 of Latvia – Riga last Saturday.
Thompson fell just short of the LCQs on countback at round one in Malilla on July 5, but he made the cut in the Latvian capital on eight race points.
His night came to an end after Thompson finished fourth in LCQ1 behind Adam Bubba Bednar, Mathias Pollestad and Jan Przanowski. But after picking up a race win along the way, Thompson was happier with his result than he was in Sweden.
He said: “It was much better than the first round. I wasn’t too happy with my bikes in the first round, so I made some adjustments for this one and it was a much better night. It was a shame to lose out in the last-chance race, but it would have probably been easier if I was on one of the inside gates.
“I threw away some points in my heats, so I was pleased to scrape into the last-chance qualifiers.”
Thompson, who is 13th in the SGP2 standings on 13 points, admits all of this year’s SGP2 tracks are new to him, so he was pleased with how he adapted to Riga’s Bikernieki last Friday.
He said: “The Riga track was alright. People told me it was a bit of a tricky track, and it is. But I did enjoy racing there. I think it’s a cool racetrack and it’s definitely a bit technical. You had to adapt to it pretty quickly. I enjoyed it and if I go there again, I will do a bit better.”
Thompson is in his final season as an under-21 rider and hopes to sign off his SGP2 career on a high at the Deluxe Homeart FIM SGP2 of Denmark – Vojens on September 12.
He said: “It has been cool to be part of the whole SGP2 series this year. Vojens is another venue I am looking forward to going to, and it will be the first time I have seen that one, which makes it difficult when you are racing people who have done the different rounds before. But I will give it my best.”