We caught up with Powerslide Suzuki’s Asher Durham, who currently lies second in the standings with four races remaining.

It’s been a near-perfect three races for Asher Durham in Rounds six and seven taking victories at both Oulton Park and Thruxton.

At Thruxton, the number 64 took his first double in the Pirelli British Sportbike class and his first since Thruxton in 2019 with Cresswell Racing in the Motostar championship.

“It felt a bit surreal to be honest with you. Going into it, especially from the Friday practices, I knew the Aprilias were really strong, so I didn’t really think we’d have a chance even at the podium. And then to come away with two wins, I just couldn’t believe it. Once I was in the race, I kind of felt really comfortable, really strong, and knew I was definitely the strongest rider, and used my head a lot. And after I won the first one, I was kind of dreaming about it a little bit [about the double]. And I just feel like it’s quite one of those things that you really feel like it was meant to be and it felt very special to, I guess, dedicate it a little bit to John.”

Asher Durham – Powerslide Suzuki

Asher ended last season as one of the pre-season favourites coming into this season after scoring two victories and five podiums and being the top rider from those still in the class.

However, in November Thrasher came down with an illness that left him on the sidelines for much of the off-season, meaning he was unable to complete any testing before the opening round of the season.

This meant he had to take the first two rounds as damage limitation while he returned to full fitness and regained his speed.

Something else that plagued him was the change in suspension, going from Bitubo to K-Tech. When speaking about the start of the season, he said: “We have a data technician called Scott Hayes from Australia, and he’s unbelievable at setting up the bike, and we have really good chats. He’s sort of like my mentor, to be honest with you.

“And going through last season, we were on a different suspension manufacturer. This meant by the end of the year, the bike was really well set up. And at the start of the year, it was awful. And the way he set the K-Tech, which we run now, is very different to how we had the Biturbo. We’ve got the attitude of the bike in quite a different space, just because the way the internals work.

“And it took him a little bit to get his head round it because we didn’t have the right measurements for him straight away. And then we had no testing, so we had nothing to look at pre-season. So, it just took a while for that to happen. And obviously he’s on the other side of the world, so it makes it a little bit harder for things to move as fast as you want.

“And then I was also slow because of winter. I hadn’t done any preparation, so my mind was slower. I was slightly later to the throttle everywhere. When you look at the data, it didn’t look overly different, but it was just small increments everywhere just create a loss in lap time.

“So, Scott Hayes is definitely a massive, massive, massive part of our success, like, both last year and this year. And hopefully, I can have sort of Scott on my side for the rest of my career, because he’s definitely one of the best people I’ve ever worked with in my career.”

Just four races remain in the Pirelli British Sportbike Championship, with one race at Cadwell Park and Donington Park and two races at the final round at Brands Hatch, where the points increase, so there’s 35 points for a race win instead of the normal 25.

At the end of Round Two at Donington Park, Asher trailed Aprilia IN Competition Racing’s Alfie Davidson by 49 points; now the gap has been reduced to 18 points.

When asked about the final four races of the season, Asher said: “It’s a big points haul to catch up, and especially when we lost all the points at the first two rounds. So, it’s quite good that we’ve made that sort of made up that gap, and we made up a lot of points in the last round as well.

“So, we’ll just have to take it race by race, honestly. I feel like it’s a big mental warfare. It seems like it’s just a two-horse race now with me and Alfie, and it’s sort of just who turns up better in the last four races.

“As a rider and as a team, I think we’re definitely in the strongest seat. So, if we just do what we’ve been doing for the last few races, we can catch that deficit and hopefully raise the big trophy at the end, which is all that matters.”

Featured Images: MFetch Photography