Best weekend of season so far for Hayfield ace Christian Iddon

It was clear from the start of the weekend that more progress had been made with the bike as Iddon topped the first free practice session and was on course for a good FP2 but a small crash ended the session early.

Despite the clear pace, Iddon was only able to qualify in 11th for the first of the weekend's races but was then able to fight through the pack to take fifth at the finish.

Only a late move from another rider, which forced Iddon to take avoiding action, prevented the possibility of a podium.

The good race one showing gave Iddon a much better grid slot for the first of Sunday's feature races.

The team made some changes to the bike overnight but they didn't have the desired effect as Iddon struggled to get to grips with the new setting and was hindered by a couple of issues.

It meant that the fight for the win that had been hoped for didn't materialise and eighth position was the end result.

For the final race Iddon was once again back feeling good with his bike. He moved steadily through the field and was tantalisingly close to the lead of the race, but just couldn't bridge the gap to the leaders leaving him fifth at the flag but marking his best points haul so far this year.

“This weekend has been good but also frustrating in equal measures,” he said.

“There is no doubt that my bike and my feeling with the bike is improving round on round and this weekend, had the cards fallen a little more in our favour, then we could easily have had at least two podiums to our name if not more.

“I didn't perform well in qualifying and that made the first race difficult, but I felt so good on the bike.

“I just ended up the wrong side of a battle and lost the front group.

“We changed the bike for day two and the second race was polar opposite to race one where this time I had a good start position but a terrible feeling with the bike. The changes made just didn't work for me and it was bitterly disappointing.

“We regrouped and the team made great changes for the final race and we can be reasonably content with fifth at the flag.

“I was able to match the winner lap on lap and I can take heart from that, but the goal this year is to win the championship.

“In order to do that I need to make the absolute most of this better feeling and turn it into results. I will be pushing as hard as ever to make that happen.”

The next round will be held at Brands Hatch on 21st-23rd July.