MOTORCYCLING: Tattershall's Silvester secures two top six finishes at Donington

It was another steep learning curve for Aaron who had not been to the Leicestershire circuit for more than two years and he had to familiarise himself with the circuit layout before posting any fast laps.

Going into qualifying, the tarmac was dry but cold which allowed Aaron to get up to speed before posting his fastest time of the weekend to qualify in ninth place.

The first of his three races began in the dry with everyone on dry tyres, but as the race progressed the rain began to fall and Aaron was unlucky to crash. He commented: “It was going well as I climbed up to around sixth place and then the rain came down and riders started tumbling all over the track – unfortunately one of them was me.

“As heavy rain fell, I entered a corner and high sided which caused a fair bit of damage to the bike. Luckily, I have the best team behind me and we managed to get the bike fixed for the morning warm up on Sunday.”

All went well for the second race and Aaron opted for a full wet set up as the clouds looked threatening above and it proved to be the correct decision as within a few laps the rain began to fall.

To make things more difficult, the track was dry in places and wet in others but he stayed on board this time and brought the bike home in a respectable sixth position.

The sun came out to dry the track for the final race of the weekend and although there was a small shower at the start, the track remained dry which enabled Aaron to get away to a good start. But just to complicate matters, he lost a contact lens half way through the race which blurred his vision.

Despite the handicap, Aaron moved up from 24th on the grid to complete the 14 laps in a fine fifth place in his class to pick up a further 11 championship points.

A delighted Aaron said: “Another meeting and more experience under my belt and so I must give a huge thanks to my team, especially Steve Dolan and Andrew Bell for their efforts to get the bike ready for Sunday’s warm up, plus thanks to Dave at Phoenix Racing for his help with parts for the rebuild.

“After two meetings I am now sitting in fifth in the championship which I am pleased about. I can’t wait for the next meeting on the Snetterton 300 circuit spanning over the weekend of April 30.

“Huge thanks to Stralia Race Tech, A and J Racing, Fuchs Silkolene, Pete and Ally Dalton, Andy Waters, Chores Hygiene Management, Oakwell Management Services, dad, mum, Max, Tom Nixon, Craig Harriman and, Helen Pask. Thanks to all friends and family that came to support me.”