Donington BSB: Seton Racing’s classic all-nighter

Five litres of Relentless energy drink got South African Hudson Kennaugh to pole position on his Linxcel-Seton Tuning Yamaha in the Fuchs-Silkolene British Supersport race at Donington.

The drink was consumed by team owner Phil Seton and mechanic Dale Bingle in a classic racing all-night engine rebuild session after Kennaugh reported a power loss during practice on Sunday.

Seton and Bingle left Donington at 6pm on Saturday night to drive the 150 miles to their base at Colchester, where they discovered a damaged valve in the R6’s engine.

They changed the crankshaft and other components, finished the work at 3.25am on Sunday morning and arrived back at Donington at 6am.

But there was more drama when 28-year-old Kennaugh crashed the R6 at Craner Curves in the 9.40am qualifying session on Sunday and broke the bike in two.

The remains were delivered to the Seton pit at 11am, and the team switched the engine to a new chassis at 2.20pm, five minutes before the final qualifying session.

“It was a mad rush, but at least we made it,” said Seton, whose company is making its first big push with an international rider in supersport racing.