British Rider Chloe Jones came into her home round cold after her lowest-scoring round in her FIM Women’s Circuit Racing World Championship career at Cremona and a two-month lull in the season to boot. Fortunately for her, her native Prosecco DOC UK round awaited them, and Jones capitalised on the opportunity to claim her first WorldWCR podium.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED: “My aim was to get a podium, and I finished P3”

Jones’s Race 1 benefited from her strong P5 placement in Friday’s Tissot Superpole session, placing her in the middle of the second row for lights out. She enjoyed a strong jump off the line, launching her up to P3 behind the title rivals Maria Herrera (Klint Forward Racing Team) and Beatriz Nelia (Ampito Crescent Yamaha). A Lap five move by Sara Sanchez (Terra & Vita GRT Yamaha WorldWCR Team) sent her back to P4, before getting her revenge on Sanchez on Lap nine. She even overtook current Title leader Maria Herrera (Klint Forward Racing Team) to enjoy second place for a lap, before a last-lap melee saw Jones pushed back down to P3 behind Herrera who topped the podium, and Neila in P2.

On her home Race 1 podium, Jones said: “Honestly, it feels amazing, I’m so glad to do it at home as well. My aim was to get a podium, and I finished P3. I knew I could do it; I knew I had the time to do it, so doing it at home was unbelievable. I’m so grateful to have all these fans with me: my mom, my dad, my team, everyone, I can’t thank them enough.”

JONES ON HER PODIUM BATTLE COMPETITORS - “The three girls at the front with me have so much experience, and there’s so much I can learn from them”

Jones faces stiff competition on this year’s WorldWCR grid, from the riders ahead of her currently in the Championship standings at the moment, like: Neila, Sanchez, Herrera and her teammate Roberta Ponziani. Riders like rookie Lucie Boudesseul (GMT94-YAMAHA) and Jessica Howden (Team Trasimeno) both have impressed recently, crowding the fight for the top five. The calibre of the riders she is going head-to-head with is not lost on her, and she is taking advantage of the opportunity to grow as a rider by learning from her rivals.

Jones continued, expanding on her podium and the obstacles she faced. She said, “I knew I had the pace to finish on the podium; there were a lot of negatives I had going into the round, of course, that I have had to deal with throughout the season. At the start of races, I’m a bit slow to get going, so I knew that if I could just work on that, I had a good chance of finishing in the top five. So, to get a podium, I’m really happy and happy for everyone else as well. The three girls at the front with me have so much experience, and there’s so much I can learn from them. In Race 1, I learned so much from them. They’ve won a lot, and I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to race against these girls and learn from them as well.

Catch Chloe Jones next time out for WorldWCR race action at Balaton Park in Hungary, a round that will feature the 1000^th WorldSBK Race WorldSBK VideoPass! Now 50% off!