After a dismal few weeks littered with technical problems Ben Wilson returned to form with two points finishes at his home track of Cadwell Park over the weekend.
The Kirton-based Gearlink Kawasaki rider picked up 11 championship points with finishes of 12th and ninth at Louth – taking his tally to 33 for the season.
Despite the poor weather conditions – rain was a feature of the round – Wilson made steady progress through free practice and qualifying to secure a sixth row start to the first of two championship races on Monday.
He got away to a good start, making up two places on the opening lap to 16th and one lap later he was up to 14th. Lap three saw him push forward to 12th ahead of James Westmoreland, only for “Westy” to reclaim his position on the next lap.
But Wilson persevered and was running in a strong 12th place when the red flag brought the race to an early end as the rain began to fall.
As the race had run to two-thirds distance, a result was declared with Wilson being awarded 12th place and four championship points.
By the time the riders took their grid positions for the start of race two the weather conditions had deteriorated further.
Starting from the sixth row, Wilson’s vision would again be impaired by the spray from the riders ahead.
Undeterred, he got his head down and moved through to tenth position on the opening lap.
By lap five he was up to seventh and ahead of a large group of riders who were all seeking to move forward.
Wilson held them off until lap 13 of 15 when both Jon Kirkham and Chris Walker managed to pass him but he staved off the advances of the rest of the group and maintained his ninth place to the chequered flag.
Wilson said: “We have had a lot of problems with the Superbike over the past few weeks but we have been testing and appear to have solved the issues.
“I was going well in race one but the red flag prevented me from moving further forward.
“Race two was run in horrendous conditions but once we got going I was able to move forward and head the group so avoiding the spray.
“Towards the end a couple of them got the better of me but ninth is a good result for me, especially on my home circuit in front of my friends, family and fans.
“Thanks go to my team who have worked so hard to get the bike up and running for me.”
The next round is at Donington Park on September 7.
