Neave twins make up ground with good race pace at Thruxton

Tom fought back to record a seventh-place finish for Honda Racing and move into the top-six of the championship, while Tim raced his Morello Racing Kawasaki to 14th position.

Starting the race from a fifth row grid position in 14th place, Tom dropped a place on the first lap, but then got his head down.

Picking off places throughout the 16 laps, he reached ninth place on lap eight, and on the final lap passed both Chrissie Rouse and Ashley Beech to secure a seventh-place finish to his race for nine championship points.

Tom is now sixth in the overall rider standings on 92-and-a-half points.

“I had a really enjoyable weekend and enjoyed my race today,” he said.

“It was the most fun I’ve had on a bike in a long time. I love it at Thruxton; it is such a great circuit and it’s fun to slide around.

“I enjoyed coming from the back to catch people and start working my way forward, but I do make it hard for myself by starting from so far back.

“I am losing my races in qualifying and then having to make up so many places early on, so by that time, my race is done.

“If I could qualify well, then with the race pace I have, I can run with the front guys.

“I beat the guys I needed to for the championship this weekend so I just need to work on my qualifying and make the next step.”

Tim, meanwhile, qualified down in 20th place to start the race from the seventh row.

He got a good start, making up four places to 16th on the first lap, and continued to make progress before passing Ashley Beech for 14th on lap six.

He reeled in Eemeli Lahti with two laps to go and crossed the finish line in 14th position to pick up two championship points.

The tally places him 16th in the overall standings on 33-and-a-half points.

“Practice and qualifying were tough for me this weekend, and 20th on the grid was far from ideal,” he said. “But I made a mega start to immediately overhaul all of the riders on the row ahead of me.

“I was in a good battle with five to six other riders and I was able to stay with them up to about lap 10 when I just began to lose a bit of ground.

“I just didn’t quite have the pace I needed and I made a few mistakes trying to close the gap, but I’m happy to get more points on the board.

“It’s my home round next so I’ll be looking to give a better account of myself there and, hopefully get back into the top 10.”

The next round is at Cadwell Park from August 14 to 16.