Manxman Gavin Hunt enjoyed his best ever British Championship meeting over the weekend with the Nei Motorsport Kawasaki rider taking a brilliant seventh place at Brands Hatch in the Pirelli Superstock 1000cc Championship race. It was the best ever British Championship result for the Douglas-based rider and enabled him to leap up to 14th overall in the Championship table.
 
The weekend started off in good fashion for Gavin when he placed 15th in Friday’s opening qualifying session but Saturday saw him put in his best performance this season as he took almost three quarters of a second off his lap time to move up to eighth. It meant he would start Sunday’s 16-lap race from the middle of the third row, his best ever starting position in the Championship.
 
The benefit of a good qualifying position could be seen immediately when Gavin slotted into seventh place at the completion of the opening lap and by lap three he’d moved up to sixth having overhauled Michael Robertson. The front group had made a break by this time with Gavin having a good gap over the group of riders battling for seventh but Josh Elliott and Freddy Foray began to reel him in and for the final third of the race, the trio battled for sixth place. Briefly pushed back to eighth, Gavin regained a place on the 13th lap when Foray crashed out and he duly crossed the line in a brilliant seventh to claim nine points and his best ever Championship result.
 
Gavin Hunt: “I’m really pleased with today’s result and the weekend’s been pretty faultless from start to finish. I said at the last round how important it was to have a good qualifying position and to get eighth played a big part in how the race panned out – going into Druids on the opening lap with only half a dozen riders in front of you compared to 15 is a much better feeling! I got a good start and although I got baulked a bit going into the second corner, I got stuck in and had soon worked my way up to sixth. By that time though, the front riders had escaped and I was kind of in no man’s land so it did me a favour when Josh came by.”
 
“I was a bit worried there might have been a whole group of riders coming up behind me but I got in behind Josh and then Freddy and had a good gap to the pack behind me. You had to be really careful going into Druids and I was taking it steady through the first sector and making the time up in the back part of the circuit. The bike was absolutely perfect and it’s great to end the weekend with my best ever British Championship so a big thanks to the team for all their hard work. The next round is at Thruxton, which is a circuit I really enjoy so I’m looking forward to getting there and building on this weekend’s result.”
 
The sixth round at Thruxton, Hampshire takes place on August 1-3.
 
Picture by Glynne Lewis.