BROCKHOLES racer James Lodge beat the odds to grab a podium finish in the British 125GP Championship meeting at Cheshire’s Oulton Park.
Qualifying proved a less than satisfactory affair for Lodge as he was in eighth place after the first round only to crash out in the second session.
However, despite struggling with his bike’s set-up, Lodge bounced back and was fastest in the warm-up laps before the race.
The race followed a similar pattern with Lodge surrendering two places to 10th at the start but he managed to battle back to move up to fifth by the end of the fourth lap.
Lodge continued to improve and managed to get his nose in front in a dogfight for second place, however on the final lap he was held up by back markers and surrendered second but managed to hold on to a podium place.
“I was really happy to have finished third in the race considering all the problems that we had in qualifying,” said Lodge.
“I got a fairly bad start in the first lap, but for the next few laps I caught up to the battle for second place and by lap 10 took second and pulled a gap on third of about a second.
“But I got slowed down by a back-marker who I was lapping. I was still second going into the last corner but the third place rider pulled a do-or-die manoeuvre and nearly ran me off the track.
“I managed to hold it together and missed out on second place by two hundreths of a second.
“I was still happy as it was my first podium finish of the season, but it was frustrating after doing all the work to make it into second only to lose it on the last corner.”
Lodge’s podium slot moved him into third place in the championship and he will look to improve on that standing when he returns to action at Donington Park over the busy weekend of May 23-25.
