Local rider Josh Elliott secured a fine fifth spot last weekend at a hot and humid Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit in Kent which was the venue for the fifth round of the British Superbike Championship.

Elliott qualified 15th on the grid but produced a wonderful ride to finish sixth, which was then moved up to fifth when another rider was removed from the results. And that result has moved Josh up to fifth place in the championship standings.

“I am very happy with my result at the weekend even though we started badly and under pressure to get a setting. I felt a bit sick on the bike on Friday but stuck with it and got stronger as the weekend went on. The team worked so hard to improve the bike for me and thankfully the race set up was much better. This championship is unbelievably competitive this year with lap records being broken at every race so far. It is obviously great to be able to compete and I am thankful to all my team and sponsors for making it possible.” Elliott was hoping to emulate his early season form at Brands Hatch when he secured his first podium and lap record on the shorter ‘Indy’ version of the track. However, after coming from a non-race at Knockhill two weeks ago following a qualifying crash on brake fluid, he was going to face an uphill task. A gastric bug further set back plans and a shake-down test had to be cancelled, so it was straight into the action last Friday for free practice and first qualifying.

Running ninth after day one his GA Homer, Socialites team were struggling to find the right set-up and despite changes he dropped to 15th in final qualifying leaving him a lot of work to do for the race from row five.

Overnight the team identified a few areas for improvement in chassis and gearing which were tried out in morning warm up and the rider gave his approval. A steady start off the line and surviving a few crowded first corner moments provided the opportunity to make progress. Elliott was still holding 15th on lap one but from then on set to work in devastating fashion on a machine that was allowing him perform much better. He swiftly cut through the field of quality riders sometimes making more than one pass at a time and by half distance he had made up nine places and was in sixth.

Unfortunately by this time the front five had made up too much ground so the Fermanagh lad had to manage his position in front of a large group of riders, but crossed the line to record a much better result than anticipated after qualifying.

With his team already delighted, they got better news when it was revealed that Josh had been promoted to fifth following another rider being removed from the results and has moved up three places in the championship to fifth as well.