In the Pirelli National Superstock Championship, riders Alex Olsen and Jack Nixon had an up and down time at Donington Park, whilst Tom Ward had a good weekend.

In the opening race, Olsen came through from sixth on the grid to just miss out on a podium as he finished fourth. Getting the fastest lap, he lined up on pole for the second race but suffered a different technical issue and had to retire on lap five.

Speaking after the weekend, Olsen said: “The weekend has been one to forget although we have shown good pace and what we can do – we just didn’t get the results to go with it unfortunately.

“Race One was quite good, we settled into a good rhythm unfortunately a red flag came out just as we got into third and closed down the leaders and was looking at a pass.

“At the restart unfortunately we got a bit duffed up, got to front again and had a few moves and lunges and got a bit duffed up again and ended fourth. We got the fastest lap of the race which meant we started the second from pole.

“We settled into the race and felt comfortable but then after a few laps we had technical problem which forced us to retire. It was disappointing but it’s one of those things. We move on.”

Nixon, meanwhile, managed to bring home two top 10s despite a dramatic race on Saturday where he was handed a drive through penalty for a jump start, rejoined near the back, pulled off a huge save when he hit fluid dropped by another rider yet still finished 10^th. In the second, he finished ninth.

Speaking after the weekend, Nixon said: “It has been a positive weekend as it was my first time here on the big bike so it was always going to be a bit challenging. On Friday we found the pace fairly quickly and kept chipping away every session but then race one was a bit of a rollercoaster.

“I had a jump start, had my ride through and went back to 30^th and then had that save which was crazy. The race was stopped, I started 24^th and came back to 10^th so I was happy.

“In the second, we got a good start but I jolted my arm in the save the day before so I had a bit of pain which caused a bit of a problem. I did manage to get another top 10 though so I’m happy with that. I’m looking forward to the break now and to come back strong at Knockhill.”

Tom Ward in contrast on his In Competition Aprilia had a slightly better weekend with a sixth place finish in race one, just behind Richard Kerr.

In the final race of the weekend he bagged another top ten finish crossing the line in P8, a good finish having run in the top six for a while during the race.

Jack Nixon image courtesy of Bonnie Lane, Alex Olsen image courtesy of Double Red Photographic.