WESTHOUGHTON racer Joe Lawrence made the short-trip to Oulton Park in Cheshire last weekend for the latest round of the Thundersport GB Championship and finished in the points in both races.

Riding at what is the most local track in the Championship series for the first time, Lawrence was pleased with two 12th-placed finishes in what is his debut season at the level.

Riding his Yamaha R6 in the Pre-National Sport 600cc class, Lawrence was encouraged by the outcome of both outings after worn tyres meant he could only qualify on Friday in 18th position on the grid.

Lawrence said: "Testing on Friday morning went okay and we were hoping for good qualifying positions on the grid but unfortunately due to worn tyres we only managed 18th position.

"I had my Suspension technician with me on race day from TW Suspension-Tech (Teut Wiehn) and he has worked hard to get me and the bike ready for every race.

"I got off to a poor start lifting the front wheel but managed to still pick a few places up into the first corner.

"Luckily we narrowly missed out on an incident at Hizzys Chicane but unfortunately this meant we lost the tow on the leading pack.

"However, I got my head down and slotted into 12th position.

"I started closing the gap on the next pack of riders but unfortunately due to do a near miss with a slow back marker I couldn’t quite get to them and we came home in 12th.

"But I put in a fastest lap of 1min46secs which is my quickest lap around the Oulton circuit.

"In race two I got off to a great start and managed to get up there with the leading pack, passing a few riders going into Island bend.

"Then I got my head down and tried to keep with the leading pack.

"I managed to get into 12th again on the third lap and then on the last lap I closed a five-second gap on the 11th place rider.

"But unfortunately it was too late and we just missed out on 11th."

Lawrence is next on the track at Rockingham later this month and he goes into that in positive mood after his Oulton Park debut.

He added: "This was our best weekend to date – my fastest lap was only three seconds off the leaders’ pace and we could see the leading pack all the way through the race.

"We made a lot of progress with the bike and my riding style which helped me gain a lot more confidence.

"We are now looking forward to Rockingham in July and are hoping for another successful weekend racing"

Lawrence and his JDL Racing team are still looking for sponsorship. Anyone interested can email joe@jdlracing.co.uk or visit the team's website at www.jdlracing.co.uk.