Dixon Closes Gap To Front With Double Top Ten At Donington Park

Kam Dixon produced one of his most encouraging weekends of the 2026 Pirelli National Superstock Championship at Donington Park, securing eighth and ninth across the penultimate round of the season as he continued to close the gap to the leading group.

Five weeks on from Cadwell Park, where two more points-scoring finishes had been accompanied by some frustration at being unable to stay with the riders ahead, Donington provided a clear indication of progress. Kam was among the leading runners from the beginning of Friday practice and remained firmly inside the top ten throughout the weekend, eventually leaving with another 18 championship points.

That pace was evident almost immediately in Free Practice 1. A time of 1:30.409 put Kam third fastest behind David Allingham and Luke Mossey, before a small improvement to 1:30.350 during the afternoon's second session left him seventh on both the FP2 and combined classifications. 

Saturday morning qualifying brought another step forward on the stopwatch. Although Kam later admitted he had struggled to piece together a complete lap, a 1:29.898 was enough for eighth and a place on the third row of the grid, less than a second away from Allingham's pole position time and just 0.184 seconds behind Ian Hutchinson in seventh.

A difficult opening corner in Race 1 briefly dropped Kam down the order, having been forced to sit the bike up as the field negotiated Redgate, but he recovered quickly and was back in eighth by the end of the opening lap. Hutchinson came through at the beginning of lap two, before Billy McConnell's crash from third on the approach to the Esses moved those behind him back up a position.

With the opening exchanges complete, Kam settled into eighth with Josh Owens beginning to apply pressure from behind. Owens looked to make his move at Melbourne on lap five but couldn't make it stick, and it was Kam who instead went on the attack, passing Blaze Baker into the Esses to move into seventh.

By the beginning of lap eight, Kam remained just 1.3 seconds behind Simon Reid ahead, but Owens was still looming behind and this time made his move stick at the Esses. Kam dropped back to eighth, although with almost three seconds already in hand over Baker behind, he was able to settle into his rhythm for the remainder of the 12-lap race.

There would be no further change before the chequered flag, with Kam securing eighth for the third consecutive race weekend and finishing just 1.5 seconds behind Reid. Allingham took victory by 0.398 seconds from Mossey, while Declan Connell completed the podium.

Sunday morning's short Warm Up saw Kam complete six laps and finish eighth fastest before attention turned to the second and final race of the weekend, where his Race 1 lap time placed him 10th on the grid.

Kam made good progress immediately. Taking a wider line into Redgate allowed him to keep clear of trouble while also moving ahead of Baker, and by the end of the opening lap he had climbed to eighth. McConnell was charging through from ninth on the grid, however, and after Kam began to lose touch slightly with the group ahead, the Australian found a way past on the run down towards the Esses.

That left Kam ninth as the race settled into its rhythm, but there was an important difference compared with some of the earlier rounds of the season. While he didn't quite have the pace to stay with McConnell ahead, he had enough in hand to keep Baker, Ash Beech and Jack Bednarek behind and remained within sight of the group he had spent much of the season trying to reach.

At the beginning of lap nine, the gap to McConnell was just 1.4 seconds while Kam had established a 4.6-second advantage over Bednarek behind. He continued to extend that margin through the closing laps and crossed the line ninth, securing his second top-ten finish of the weekend.

The final classification showed Kam 3.578 seconds behind Reid in eighth and almost five seconds clear of Baker in 10th. His best lap of 1:29.944 also underlined the progress made during the weekend, putting him just 0.143 seconds away from Reid's fastest lap. Mossey took victory ahead of Allingham, with Hutchinson completing the podium.

More significant than the finishing position, however, was how much closer Kam felt he had been able to stay to the leading group. Having left Cadwell determined to find the extra speed required to get amongst the riders ahead, Donington provided some of the clearest evidence yet that the gap is beginning to close.

Reflecting on the weekend, Kam said:

"For once I'm leaving the weekend quite happy. I struggled to put a complete lap together in qualifying, but we still ended up with a respectable P8.

"Race 1 was difficult. I had a bad first corner and dropped back before climbing my way back to eighth. The pace was similar to the front group, but I didn't quite have enough to really match them and struggled a little towards the end.

"Race 2 was much more enjoyable. I lost around three seconds to the leaders on the first lap, but from laps two to ten I only lost another four seconds. It's really encouraging to be that close to the leaders for that long. Being able to still see them in the distance at the end of the race is a new one for me.

"Palmer Performance did a good job making the bike more consistent for me today. It's been a very encouraging weekend, so a big thanks to the team."

The eighth and ninth-place finishes added 18 points to Kam's championship tally, taking him to 66 points and keeping him 14th in the standings. More importantly, Donington represented another tangible step forward in outright competitiveness, with Kam running closer to the leading group for longer and leaving a race weekend satisfied with the progress made.

With one round remaining, the 2026 Pirelli National Superstock Championship now heads to Brands Hatch for the season finale, where Kam will look to carry that momentum into the final two races of the year.