Jitsie factory Beta rider Jack Sheppard failed to shine on the opening day of the Grand Prix of Great Britain despite the teenager from Suffolk making a strong start today in front of his home crowd. Sheppard who recently celebrated his nineteenth birthday was wanting to put on a good performance for his British fans and did not disappoint them as he made easy work of the initial hazards at the hill top venue. Jack almost looked back at his best in the quarry based sections and was faultless up until the seventh test of the day.
Sheppard's first marks were both heavy and sudden as he came to an abrupt halt in section seven, after he had led the Junior class competition right through until almost the mid point of the first lap. This failure was to signal a different and disappointing close to the first half of the event, as Jack's challenge was to fade when he notched up three more fives in the latter hazards to finish his opening tour on twenty-five marks. This put the nineteen year old in sixth place as he handed in his punchcard before heading out on lap two.
With a heavy rain shower having made conditions out on the course even more difficult Sheppard did his utmost to stop the rot and to consolodate his position as his rivals equally struggled on the greasy boulders. Jack's closing lap once again included four fives in total and a three in the final section of the day to give him a lap score of just under thirty marks and fifty six in total for the day to hold onto sixth spot come the finish.
With Jorge Casales having finished in fourth place today, he has now overtaken Sheppard by a single point in the fight for fifth position in the general standings. Jack will look to regain his top five placing with a better result tomorrow.
Jack reflected on day that could have been better. "The day started really well with everything seeming to gel into place nicely. I rode clean up until the seventh section where, unfortunately I dropped my first five of the day. A two and a three after that weren't ideal, but I was still in the running for a podium position. However, we had a couple of small problems with the bike so I needed to stop and sort them out and by the time we'd done that, the heavy rain had started. This made the sections very slippery and much harder, ultimately leading to two more fives on the final two sections of the first lap. "
"The second lap wasn't really much better. Any mistakes I made seemed to have were big ones, leading to four fives over the lap and seeing off any chance I had of making it onto the podium today. Many of the sections today have had large drop-offs which hasn't really helped my wrist. Hopefully it won't be too bad for tomorrow's competition as it's been great seeing so many familiar faces here and I'd really like to be up there contending for the win in front of my home crowd with all things being equal." Sheppard ended.