Dixon Continues Points-Scoring Run at Cadwell Park

Kam Dixon continued his recent run of points-scoring form with two more finishes inside the points at Cadwell Park, adding another 11 points to his championship tally during a challenging August Bank Holiday weekend.

Arriving in Lincolnshire off a season-best eighth place at Thruxton, Kam was looking to carry that progress into Round 8 of the Pirelli National Superstock Championship. However, with the weather playing a significant part throughout the opening two days, opportunities to find a comfortable dry set-up around Cadwell’s narrow and undulating 2.18-mile circuit were limited.

Saturday morning provided the best of the conditions, with Free Practice 1 taking place on a dry circuit beneath overcast skies. Kam completed 11 laps and worked his way down to a 1:30.335, leaving him 14th at the end of the session and just 0.020 seconds behind Callum Bey. 

Ordinarily there would have been another opportunity to build on that pace later in the day, but the weather had other ideas. Rain arrived ahead of FP2 and left the circuit fully wet, producing lap times considerably slower than those set during the morning and effectively freezing the combined practice order.

That made Kam’s 14th place particularly significant. With Cadwell Park using a two-stage qualifying format, the fastest 14 riders from combined practice progressed automatically to Q2, while the remainder of the field had to fight for the final four places through Q1. Kam had made the cut by just one position and would go straight through to Sunday’s second session.

Conditions remained awkward when qualifying began on Sunday morning. The rain had stopped, but the circuit was still drying, and there remained plenty of time to be found as confidence and grip levels improved.

Kam admitted afterwards that he could perhaps have taken a few more risks, but his 1:30.028 was nevertheless enough to put him ninth on the grid, just 0.304 seconds behind Josh Owens in eighth and on the third row for the afternoon’s opening race.

Reflecting on the session, Kam said:

“It was a bit damp in qualifying, and I probably could’ve been a little braver, but P9 gives us a decent starting position for the first race.”

By the time the field assembled on the grid on Sunday afternoon, the uncertainty of the morning had given way to almost ideal racing conditions. Air temperatures had climbed to around 22 degrees, the track was at 30, and, for the first time since Saturday morning, Kam had the opportunity to properly assess where he stood against the riders around him in the dry.

Starting ninth, he lost a position into Turn 1 but recovered before the end of the opening lap, crossing the line back in ninth and just seven tenths behind Scott Swann. Ian Hutchinson was tucked in immediately behind, and the TT legend would remain a threat during the opening stages.

Ryan Campion’s crash at the final corner on lap two moved Kam into eighth, but the complexion of the race was already becoming apparent. The leading group had begun to stretch away and, by the start of lap four, Kam was around three seconds adrift of the seven riders ahead.

Hutchinson subsequently came through to take eighth, and as the race approached half distance, Kam was struggling to find the pace required to go with him.

The race changed dramatically on lap nine when Swann crashed heavily through Hall Bends. Kam inherited eighth as a result, while the Safety Car was deployed to allow marshals to rebuild the damaged foam barrier.

With racing finally resuming at the end of lap 12, the interruption brought the field back together and left a three-lap sprint to the chequered flag.

Another position came Kam’s way on lap 14 when Lewis Rollo lost the rear of his BMW at the bottom of The Mountain, putting Kam seventh as the race entered its final lap. He looked set to secure his best result of the season, but Bednarek closed in during the final tour and found a way through in the last sector, leaving Kam to cross the line eighth.

It matched the result he had achieved at Thruxton two weeks earlier, although Kam was considerably less satisfied with the performance behind it.

Reflecting on the opening race, Kam said:

"It was a hard race. I lost a couple of places at the start but managed to get stuck in and make them back up by the end of the first lap. A couple of fallers and the Safety Car eventually left me in P7 with three laps to go, and I tried everything I could to bring it home from there.

"Unfortunately, I got pipped in the final sector and ended up eighth. It's still a good result, but I was disappointed to find myself just hanging off the back of the front group again and not quite able to go with them."

There were encouraging signs when action resumed on Monday morning. With the circuit once again drying, Kam gradually increased his pace throughout the short Warm Up session and saved his best until last, recording a 1:31.755 on his seventh and final lap to finish third fastest, just 0.030 seconds behind Ash Beech.

Warm Up times rarely tell the full story, but it was a positive way to begin the final day before Kam lined up 10th on the grid for Race 2.

Once again, however, the weather threatened to intervene.

Race 2 was officially declared dry, but spots of rain were already falling on the grid, and dark clouds surrounding the circuit suggested conditions could change at any moment.

Kam safely negotiated a chaotic opening lap, particularly at Charlie’s 2 where Daniel Brooks and Ash Beech tangled immediately behind him. Brooks was sent to the ground in the incident and was fortunate not to be collected by the riders following closely behind.

With Kam holding 10th, Ryan Campion was the next target ahead while Simon Reid began applying pressure from behind. Reid made his move on lap three, dropping Kam to 11th, but the pair were running at a similar pace and had already pulled comfortably clear of the riders behind. By lap five, only seven tenths separated them, while the gap back to the next group had grown to around seven seconds.

Then came the rain.

The first spots were reported at Park on lap six before rain flags began appearing around Hall Bends. A lap later the rainfall had intensified in places, creating the particularly awkward situation of riders remaining on slick tyres while different sections of the circuit offered vastly different levels of grip.

Kam adapted quickly. As several riders began having moments, he made his way back past Reid and gained another position when Bednarek ran into trouble, briefly moving two places forward as the conditions became increasingly uncertain.

Reid responded on lap eight and found a way back through, before the threatened downpour began to subside. By lap nine the rain flags had been withdrawn, and the race settled back into a more conventional rhythm.

That left Kam and Reid locked together once again. There was virtually nothing between their respective lap times, with the gap hovering around half a second before Kam began edging closer over laps 12 and 13.

Any opportunity to attack Reid was lost on the penultimate lap, however, when a mistake from Kam allowed Bednarek back through. The three remained closely matched all the way to the flag, with Kam eventually crossing the line in 11th, only 0.644 seconds behind Bednarek and 0.842 behind Reid. 

At the front, David Allingham took victory after a closely fought battle with Luke Mossey, the pair separated by just 0.166 seconds at the chequered flag, while Billy McConnell completed the podium.

Despite finishing three places lower than in Race 1, Kam was happier with his performance on Monday afternoon.

"Race 2 actually felt better from my perspective. I felt like I rode better and was more in control of what was happening around me.

"I was sitting P10 and had a move lined up for ninth, ready to try it on the final lap. Unfortunately, the same move that caught me out at the end of Race 1 was pulled on me again, this time a lap earlier. That cost me the chance to attack for P9 and I couldn't make back the time I'd lost before the finish.

"It's a frustrating way to end the weekend, but that's the way it goes sometimes. We've got a month now before Donington Park to find some more speed and really get ourselves into that front group.

"A big thank you to the team for all their hard work and for sticking by me."

Cadwell Park ultimately proved to be a weekend of mixed feelings for Kam. Eighth and 11th represented another double points finish and continued the improved run of results seen since Brands Hatch, but neither race quite delivered the performance he had hoped to find after his strong showing at Thruxton.

The 11 points collected across the two races take Kam to 48 points for the season, keeping him 14th in the Pirelli National Superstock Championship and level on points with Eemeli Lahti immediately ahead. He also leaves Cadwell 15 points clear of Ian Hutchinson, Daniel Brooks and Callum Bey, who are tied on 33. 

With just two rounds of the 2026 season remaining, attention now turns to Donington Park on 2nd - 4th October before the championship concludes at Brands Hatch two weeks later.