From Zero to Hero: Fenton Seabright has reached the pinnacle of Sportbike racing

Finishing 35th, 13th and 26th in the World Championship standings, Fenton Seabright has rarely put in a convincing performance in his three years in the Supersport 300 World Championship – two pole positions and four fastest race laps from 48 starts. This year, the 24-year-old is almost unrecognisable. Following two difficult rounds at Portimão and Assen – his sportbike team, set up by road racer Peter Hickman, had only been thrown together shortly beforehand – the Englishman has been impressing with strong performances since Most.

In the first race at Aragón, Seabright finished third to claim his first podium, and did so again at Misano. Last weekend at Magny-Cours, the Triumph rider secured his first victory on Saturday, before finishing third on the podium once more in the second race on Sunday.

“An incredible feeling – standing on the top step of the podium and hearing your national anthem is fantastic. I was battling with the World Championship leader and, of course, that’s anything but easy. I realised that, together with Antonio Torres, we had the pace to open up a gap. The fact that it ended with a win for me is a dream come true,” said Seabright. “I had a crash in Sunday’s warm-up where my arm got trapped under the bike. That didn’t exactly help me in the second race, but I started from pole and had no one in front of me at Turn 1. I took it easy at first and was hoping for another win. But things then got even tougher than in the first race; everyone seemed to be pushing more aggressively. PHR is the only team to have made it onto the podium twice, so I’m happy.”

Although Seabright is out of the running for the World Championship, the seventh-placed rider (105 points) could still pose a threat to fourth-placed Carter Thompson (122 points/Yamaha).

“I’ve secured three podium finishes in a row – I can’t complain about that. Magny-Cours is definitely a weekend I’ll remember for a long time,” emphasised the Triumph rider. “My first victory in a World Championship means an incredible amount to me, and then to finish third on the podium as well. I hope we can take this momentum with us to Cremona.”