Saturday’s track action of the 2024 Bennetts British Superbike Championship Finale at Brands Hatch saw McAMS Racing and Danny Kent storm to an exceptional debut victory, taking the lead and controlling the pace from half-race distance, fending off pressure from Yamaha counterpart, Ryan Vickers.

The rider from Tetbury secured his debut victory in his 100th Bennetts BSB race of his career, marking the significant milestone with what will be one of the most memorable moments of his Bennetts BSB career.

Heading into the weekend, having secured a runner-up position last time out at Donington Park, Kent and the team set their sight on making a return to the front.

After overcoming challenges in Friday’s opening day of action, the #52 rider made the cut into Qualifying 2, setting his best lap time of the weekend in the final 5 minutes of the session, after a crash at Sertees put the McAMS-supported squad on the back foot with 30 minutes remaining.

In Saturday’s Qualifying 2 session, Kent took to a drying track aboard wet tyres, before instantly rolling back down the pit-lane to switch to a dry set-up. The team worked like clockwork, under the pressure of having only a small window to punch in a strong lap time ahead of the opening race of the weekend.

A red flag incident brought play to a halt before the field ventured back on track yet again for the final six minutes of the session. A best lap time of 1:25.705 landed Kent in eighth on the grid, a result that failed to reflect his true potential, as was proven during the entirety of the 20-lap charge that followed.

At lights out, from eighth on the grid, Kent made a blistering start from the line to sit in second place at Turn 2. Falling back to fifth on the following lap, the former Moto3 World Champion began picking one rider off at a time, making up ground to regain a spot in the leading three on the third lap.

With eyes focused forwards, a lunge at Druids saw him retain his spot in second and begin chasing down the lead rider of Yamaha counterpart, Vickers.

Taking tenths at a time, the R1 rider quickly pulled away from third, inserting himself hot on the heels of the lead. After sniffing around the back wheel of Vickers, an eventual pass would come on the entry to Turn 1 on Lap 9.

From there, Kent pulled the pin to produce a gap of 1.3 seconds by the end of lap 10. Continuing to control the pace, Kent set the best lap time of the race of 1:35.810 on Lap 15, answering back to a late-charging Ryan Vickers who began applying pressure within the final stage.

Kent’s form in the closing laps proved too competitive to match, eventually crossing the line 1.6 seconds ahead to clinch a well-deserved and much-awaited debut win.

Heading into tomorrow’s action Kent and the team have narrowed the gap to third place in the overall championship standings, reducing a 62-point gap down to just 27. The Yamaha rider goes from Pole position for the opening race tomorrow with full-focus on ending the 2024 season in positive style.