Chris Clark starts WorldSSP300 campaign with a double finish in Spain

American teenager Chris Clark raced to a career best finish of twenty-first in only his third FIM Supersport Championship race, his first as a full-time rider, in the opening round of the 2024 series at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain yesterday.

After contesting two rounds in 2023 – Aragon and Portimão – Chris is racing the full season in 2024 with the Accolade Smrz Racing team and got his year off to a solid start achieving two race finishes aboard his Kawasaki.

New rules this year limit track time for the riders in WorldSSP300, with just one Free Practice session prior to Superpole (the session that determines the grid).

Improvements in the grid deciding session ensured Chris was able to race and when the lights went out there were further improvements.

P24 on Saturday afternoon gave Chris a base to work from and on Sunday the step forward was significant with Chris finishing thirtieth in a race that saw him involved in a race long battle with several vastly more experienced riders.

With two solid finishes under his belt the #27 rider moves to round two at the TT Circuit Assen in the Netherlands in April, confident and motivated for even better results.

Chris Clark:

“It was a great first event of the season in the Supersport 300 World Championship. It didn’t start too well with a minor problem costing me track time in the practice, so I entered Superpole with limited track time. I qualified in P33 but in the warm up on Saturday morning I was able to improve even more and get closer to where I needed to be. I did not finish well in race one after losing touch with the people in front of me. It was a frustrating race, but it gave me a huge motivation for the last day of the weekend. I was determined to do better on Sunday and so after looking at data with the team I knew what I needed to fix. In the second warm up (on Sunday), even though it was wet I got to try it out and finished just outside of the top twenty. In the second race I had a good fight with some other riders and learned a lot, finishing in P30. I look forward to applying what I learned this weekend and doing better at Assen. A big thanks to my team. They are amazing and I am so happy to be with them for my first full year in the world championship. I want to thank everyone who is supporting me, my sponsors, my family, my manager. It means a lot.”