IT WAS a dream start for the 2022 season for the Colwyn Bay-based Dragon Racing superbike team, with Matthew Jones securing his debut podium within the British Superbikes (BSB) paddock.

Matthew, the younger of the two Denbighshire-based racing brothers, is competing in the 2022 Ducati Trioptions Cup, which is a highly competitive support series that runs alongside the British Superbike Championship.

The opening round took place at the Silverstone Circuit, the home of British motorsport, beginning on Good Friday (April 15).

Matthew was regularly within the top five throughout free practice and qualifying, and found himself lining up in fourth place on the starting grid for Saturday’s race.

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Despite a poor opening lap, finding himself as low as eighth place, Matthew cut his way through the field.

By the closing laps, he cemented himself in third place following a series of impressive overtakes and was closing in on second place.

Unfortunately, a crash from a fellow rider brought an early end to the race with a red flag and prevented Matthew from pushing for second, but the team could not be happier with the result - this was Matthew’s first taste of champagne in the BSB paddock.

Race two was even more eventful, with Matthew in the battle for third place again, but sadly he crashed on fluid dropped by another bike.

Fortunately, he was able to remount, and his mechanics were able work at lighting speed to repair the bike in time for the restart of the red flagged race.

From there, Matthew was able to salvage an impressive fifth place on his damaged machine.

This fantastic start leaves Matthew in third place overall in the championship, which is beyond the team’s wildest dreams heading into round one.

It was a less successful weekend for older brother David, who was plagued with mechanical issues and general bad luck despite showing some promising signs across the weekend in the British Supersport Championship.

The team is hoping that the issues and bad luck are now behind him ahead of their home round in Oulton Park on April 30 – May 2 (bank holiday weekend).