It was a tale of two races for Dover’s Jake Dixon at the latest round of the Motorpoint British Supersport Championship at Knockhill in Scotland last weekend.

Having qualified on the front row of the grid for the Saturday afternoon Sprint race, Jake would have been confident of bringing home a podium finish, but it wasn’t to be as he failed to finish the race.

On Sunday in the feature race he more than made up for his DNF in race one, as he finished on the second step of the podium, to head to his home round at Brands Hatch in fourth place in the championship.

In the sprint race his front row grid slot saw him immediately grabbed the lead. By the fifth lap he’d been pushed back down to fourth but as the race went into the closing stages he was back into the podium positions, aided by setting a new lap record. However, with just four laps to go he crashed out, fortunately without serious injury.

Starting from pole position for Sunday’s 26-lap ‘Feature’ race, Jake slotted into second place behind Glenn Irwin in the early stages although by lap five he’d been pushed back to fourth as a safety car period allowed the front group to bunch back up.

As soon as the race was back underway. the 19-year-old set another new lap record to reclaim fourth place and when Luke Stapleford made a mistake, he gratefully grabbed third, which became second at the chequered flag following an excellent final corner move which saw him get the better of Irwin.

Speaking after the weekend, Dixon said: “It’s been a tough couple of rounds and although I’ve been fast and consistent this weekend, crashing out of the first race was a massive disappointment. With increased lean angle and a bit more gas, I got fired off and it wasn’t the best way to start.

“The second race was a lot better but, to be fair, I should have won it. I was caught napping when the pace car pulled in and although my pace was good when I got going, I’d left it too late. Second place gets me back on track so massive thanks to the team for all their hard work in repairing the bike.”

Image courtesy of www.psp-images.co.uk