KENDAL British Superbike rider James Ellison recovered from disappointing practice and qualifying sessions to record strong results at Thruxton.

The three JG Speedfit Kawasaki riders, James Ellison, Leon Haslam and Peter Hickman came into the JG Speedfit round at Thruxton looking to build on their tally of four wins and five podiums. Unfortunately from opening practice the trio suffered with technical problems, leaving Hickman in 12th, Ellison 14th and Haslam 15th after final practice.

Ellison continued to struggle going into qualifying only managing to secure 23rd on the grid for the opening race.

Race one was red flagged, meaning the riders would run the second attempt over twelve laps, using the same tyres from the first part.

After the restart Ellison produced a strong ride to claim fifth position at the chequered flag. Teammates Hickman and Haslam however struggled with tyre wear late on to finish 12th and 13th respectively.

Making further changes ahead of the second race, the team were able to turn their weekend around and it proved a stronger outing. Comfortably running in second place for the majority of the race, Haslam again suffered from a lack of grip in the closing stages, slipping back to fifth. Equally unable to maintain their pace over the final few laps, Hickman was still able to secure sixth whilst Ellison took seventh place to rejoin the all-important top six in the Championship standings.

Happy to be back in a Showdown position, Ellison said: “Obviously I’m not leaving here peaking with how we did, but looking at how badly we were struggling on Friday morning and even yesterday, it’s been a good day. I’ve got to say a massive thank you to the team for their incredible work. They haven’t stopped all weekend, trying to get the bike fixed as best as they could, changing so many things and thanks to that effort we were able to turn things around and actually leave here back in a Showdown position.

"We know what we need to change for Brands Hatch so I’m confident we’ll be back to where we should be and we can get back onto the podium.”