Best Result Of The Season As Dixon Takes P8 At Thruxton

After the frustration of Oulton Park, where an engine failure prevented Kam Dixon from even making it onto the circuit, Round 7 of the Pirelli National Superstock Championship brought an opportunity to get his season moving forward again at Thruxton.

The 2.4-mile Hampshire circuit presents a challenge unlike almost anywhere else on the calendar. Renowned as the fastest circuit in the country, its long, high-speed corners place considerable demands on both rider and machine, while Thruxton's notoriously abrasive surface means tyre management is often a major factor over a race distance.

With temperatures soaring throughout the weekend, those demands would only increase.

Friday brought the hottest conditions of the weekend, with air temperatures exceeding 30 degrees and track temperatures climbing beyond 40 degrees as Kam returned to competitive action for the first time since Brands Hatch.

Free Practice 1 got underway at midday, with Kam completing 13 laps during the 25-minute session. A best time of 1:18.388 placed him 13th on the timesheets, providing a solid starting point after the disappointment of Oulton Park.

There was further progress when the Superstock field returned to the circuit for FP2 later in the afternoon. Kam found almost a second compared with his morning best, recording a 1:17.449 during his 15 laps. That was enough for 12th fastest, just 0.974 seconds away from Luke Mossey at the top of the timesheets.

With 28 laps completed across the two sessions and his lap times moving in the right direction, Friday provided a welcome return to normality after the team's Oulton Park weekend had ended before it had even begun.

Conditions were slightly cooler when the Superstock field returned for a short Free Practice 3 session at midday on Saturday, with air temperatures around 22 degrees and the track at 39 degrees.
Kam continued to chip away at his lap time, completing six laps and improving his best of the weekend to a 1:17.080. That placed him 13th, just over a second away from David Allingham at the head of the field.

There was little opportunity for a final improvement when Billy McConnell suffered a technical problem at the Club chicane with two minutes and 44 seconds remaining. With smoke coming from the BMW, the red and chequered flags were shown together to bring the session to an early conclusion.

Qualifying followed late on Saturday afternoon, with Kam wasting little time in finding considerably more pace around the high-speed Thruxton circuit.

His first quick lap was a 1:16.820, briefly putting him fifth on the timesheets during the early stages of the session. As the pace increased across the field, Kam continued to find time of his own, improving again to a 1:16.683.

That remained his best time of the session, securing 12th place on the grid for Sunday's race. The margins immediately ahead were particularly tight, with just 0.090 seconds separating Kam from Ash Beech in 10th.

It represented a significant improvement from Friday's opening practice, with Kam having found more than 1.7 seconds across the weekend by the end of qualifying.

Reflecting on Saturday's running, Kam said:

"We went very fast today, but so did everyone else! I'm feeling good on the bike and, importantly, our race pace looks strong as well. I'm looking forward to seeing what we can do in the race."

Sunday morning brought slightly cooler and more overcast conditions at Thruxton, with air temperatures around 20 degrees and the track at 29 degrees for Warm Up.

With little emphasis on outright lap times, the short session offered Kam an opportunity to get back up to speed and make sure everything was in order ahead of the race.

He steadily improved across his opening laps, beginning with a 1:17.935 before lowering his time to a 1:17.505 and then a 1:17.304. That was enough to place him 12th during the session.

The 15-lap race got underway at midday, with Kam gaining a position before the lights had even gone out after Simon Reid was forced to start from the back of the grid.

Kam made good use of the opportunity, completing the opening lap in 11th and immediately joining a tightly packed battle with Callum Bey and Ash Barnes ahead.

As Barnes found a way past Ash Beech, Kam followed him through the field and began applying pressure of his own. By lap four, he had made his move on Beech to climb into ninth, with very little separating the group around him.

Tyre management was always likely to play a significant role around the notoriously demanding Thruxton circuit, but there was little sign of anyone being prepared to sit back during the opening half of the race. The pace at the front was particularly impressive, with race leader Luke Mossey circulating at a speed that would have put him around the top ten on the British Superbike grid.

Kam's progress continued on lap seven when Barnes crashed at Campbell, promoting him into eighth and leaving championship leader David Allingham among the riders ahead.

Allingham and Lewis Rollo began closing on Carl Phillips as the race moved into its second half, with Kam initially around 1.7 seconds away from the group. The gap gradually increased as the laps counted down, with Kam beginning to feel the effects of Thruxton's notoriously punishing surface on his rear tyre.

The strength of the BMW package was also evident towards the front of the field, with five of the seven riders ahead of Kam aboard the German manufacturer's machinery.

There was further drama on lap 14 when David Williams crashed at Goodwood shortly before the leaders arrived at the scene. Race Direction allowed the race to continue, leaving one final lap to decide the order.
Matt Truelove cut the Club chicane on the final lap, while Scott Swann was also penalised for exceeding track limits, with both riders instructed to surrender a position.

Kam brought the Honda home in eighth place, gaining four positions from his starting spot and recording a best lap of 1:16.435 on lap six. It marked his best result of the 2026 season and continued the progress shown during his previous outing at Brands Hatch.

Reflecting on his best result of the season, Kam said:

"It was great to get stuck in at the start, pick off a couple of riders and spend a good part of the race on the back of the lead group. Unfortunately, the rider ahead of me went down into the complex and I made a small mistake of my own, which cost me a bit of time.

"I managed to keep the group in sight for a while, but with around four laps to go the tyre was pretty much finished. From there, it was about managing the gap I had behind and making sure we brought P8 home.

"There have been some big improvements compared to where we've been so far this season, and to produce our best result of the year at a circuit I struggled with last season makes it even more satisfying. It finally feels like we're turning things around.

"A massive thank you to Palmer Performance for giving me a great bike for the race. Now we move on to Cadwell Park."

After the disappointment of missing Oulton Park altogether, Thruxton provided exactly the response Kam and the team had been looking for. Progress was evident throughout practice before another significant step in qualifying, and that pace translated into his strongest race performance of the year on Sunday.

The 10 points earned for eighth place move Kam onto 33 points and up to 14th in the Pirelli National Superstock Championship standings, three points ahead of Daniel Brooks and four ahead of Callum Bey.

More importantly, it continues an encouraging run of results whenever Kam has been able to race. After breaking into the top ten for the first time at Brands Hatch, Thruxton brought another step forward and a season-best eighth place.

The championship now heads to Cadwell Park for Round 8 on 29th - 31st August, where Kam will look to continue that progress around another of the calendar's most distinctive circuits.