NETHERTON racer Josh Caygill enjoyed his best outing of the season as the British Superbikes championship went to Snetterton.
Caygill bagged his first points of the season in round four of the Motorpoint British Supersport campaign on his Vancraft Triumph on a scorching hot 300 Circuit in Norfolk.
Caygill was a disappointing 22nd in race one but then gained his first Championship points of the year in race two finishing 12th.
“I felt pretty good and it’s great to be in the points in the second race,” said Caygill.
“The team have been working really hard and it’s good to be able to repay them with a good result.
“I had a couple of problems with set up but I really wanted to get my head down, and the second race was full of drama and I wanted to stay well clear from it all.
“Thankfully I managed to avoid it all and get a good result.”
Unfortunately for Holmfirth rider Jonathan Lodge he was one of the victims of the second race.
After failing to finish the opening lap in race one, ANR-TSS Racing Triumph rider Lodge was then caught up in an incident in race two that saw four riders out on lap three.
Jonathan’s brother James was a points scorer in the Metzeler National Superstock 600 and remains in ninth place in the championship, but he was far from happy.
“The meeting turned out to be a disaster!” said Lodge, who rides a Yamaha for the Moto-Breakers team.
“I really wasn’t happy with the result because I know it should have been better.
“Qualifying was good, but unfortunately a genuine mistake meant the team thought the race started at 11.20 when it actually started at 11.15.
“At British championships the pit lane opens 10 minutes before the race start for five minutes to allow riders to complete the sighting lap and assemble on the grid, but due to the time mix up I missed the pit lane opening window by five seconds and the rules dictate that I join the warm-up lap from the pit lane and have to start the race from the back of the grid.
“So instead of starting from the second row I started from row nine and had to carve my way through the pack.
“I managed to get my way up to 11th in the next few laps which was a struggle as my riding in the first few laps had caused me to suffer ‘arm pump’ in the last third of the race.
“I was really disappointed because if I had started from the right grid position I’m sure I could have challenged at the front, but hopefully we have a better time at Knockhill in four weeks.”
Another rider who will be hoping for better luck is British Superbikes racer Tom Tunstall who hit mechanical problems in qualifying on the new Jentin Doodson Motorsport 1199 Panigale Ducati.
“It was another difficult meeting as we had a newly refreshed engine fail very early into its life,” explained Tunstall.
“We managed to fit a spare engine and this became ‘over mileage’ during the meeting and therefore we reluctantly were unable to race.”
But one local rider making headway is teenager Joe Irving who ensured that he lies ninth in the British Motostar Championship and eighth in the Motostar Cup standings after an impressive fifth place finish on the e3motorsport Honda in the 125cc race.
And Dijon Compton was back in the saddle racing in the Ducati 848 Challenge section.
The 33-year-old Ashenhurst racer was tenth in the first race and improved his standing in the championship to seventh with a seventh-place finish in the second race.
