JAMES Ellison fought back from a poor qualifying finish to end up on the podium in race two of the MCE British Superbike Championship in Scotland.

The Kendal rider finished tenth in round two of qualifying after the heavens opened - forcing a major stoppage to proceedings at Knockhill.

The JG Speedfit Kawasaki racer finished seventh in race one before taking second place off Dan Linfoot on the line in race two.

Ellison said: “Dan looked like he was out of reach for second place but like every race I gave 100 percent till the last lap and it paid off.

“I’m really happy to get the second, I gave it more throttle than normal over the line the bike was spinning and when the thing hooked it threw the front wheel up in the air and I just didn’t want to roll off. I’m really happy.”

Ellison's teammate Leon Haslam extended his lead at the top of the championship after taking his third win of the season, moving onto 128 points.

And Peter Hickman also fought the conditions to pick up two points finishes.

All three riders made it into qualifying on Saturday after working hard on the set ups of their respective machines in the free practice sessions.

Q1 was a breeze for the trio, however prior to Q2 the rain began forcing a delay. After an hour break the dash for pole resumed with Haslam, Ellison and Hickman all looking strong. At the end of the 12 minute second session both Haslam and Hickman proceeded into Q3 in third and fifth, however Ellison dropped out by three tenths of a second leaving him in tenth for Sunday’s first race.

The track started to dry for Q3 and the times started to tumble, Haslam chipped away at his time and so did Hickman, however it wasn’t enough to take pole position, with Haslam ending up in third and on the front row with Hickman just behind in fourth.

Race one on Sunday saw all three riders get great starts from the lights with Haslam running in second place, Hickman in third and Ellison battling to get into the top ten.

After a safety car Haslam started to battle with Dan Linfoot who made his way forward before fighting hard to make his way back past and held off the Honda Racing man to take his third win of the 2016 MCE British Superbike season.

Hickman crossed the line in fifth and Ellison seventh after fighting his way back from as far down as 15th at one point.

Race two saw the rain fall an hour before the lights went out, and from the start all three riders got a great jump and moved through the pack with Haslam leading the race after lap three. However, visor issues hampered the Championship leader, meaning he was having to ride cautious and crossed the line in sixth, but he still remains top of the title battle.

It was a different story for Ellison who took to the podium after riding hard through the pack in the rain and mist. The Kendal man moved up to third in the final few laps after posting the fastest lap of the race in search of Linfoot, and on the run up to the line Ellison nicked second place off of the Honda Racing man on the line.