JAMES Ellison claims his maiden second-place finish of the season felt like much more after the Kendal speed ace secured another double podium at round three of the British Superbikes Championship at Snetterton.

The Lloyds British GBmoto Kawasaki rider maintained his consistency in race one, finishing third for the fifth time in succession after completing 16 laps in 30:18:575 behind Shane Byrne and Josh Brookes.

Ellison followed this up with an impressive second in race two, clocking 29:02:857 to finish ahead of Tommy Bridewell but behind runaway championship leader Byrne.

This sequence of results sees the 33-year-old return to second place in the BSB standings, although Ellison remains wary of Byrne who currently enjoys a 45-point lead over his closest rival.

“I finished in third place five times in a row so second felt like a win and was exactly what I was after,” he said.

“It’s all come together really well as we’ve moved back up to second in the championship, a position we lost at Oulton Park, and together with the podium credits that’s a big step forward.

“The only problem is Shakey keeps racking up the wins and stretching his lead. If Josh Brookes or Tommy Bridewell had won it wouldn’t have been too bad.

“So we all really need to step up to the mark and beat him next time out at Knockhill so we can prevent him collecting further podium credits.

“But I have exceeded my own expectations on this bike. Because it was new, I wasn’t expecting to be as high up at this stage of the season.

“I wasn’t expecting any miracles but it’s worked out really well, although ideally I could do with recording some wins before the mid-point of the season.”

In terms of the races themselves, Ellison continued his perfect podium record in the first and despite suffering technical issues almost capitalised on a mistake by Brookes on the final lap.

In the second, Byrne refused to buckle under the pressure exerted his opponents to claim his fourth win of the campaign, although Ellison reflects the outcome could have been different.

“I got a really good start in the first after pushing ahead with a bit of an experiment and using a harder tyre,” he added.

“I was a little bit wary for the first couple of laps but it seemed to be working alright and I pushed as hard as I could.

“But with a few laps to go the rear brake calliper fell off so I had no rear brake so in the end I just had to consolidate third.

“While the second race did feel like a win, it was a little frustrating as I felt I had the pace to win, I just had a really bad start.

“I only got passed Tommy Bridewell with one lap to go and was a bit disappointed not to take the fight to Shakey, although it did show I can compete with the pace he’s got.

“I need to get with him at the start of the race to be able to attack him at the end.”