Market Rasen racer Tom Neave impresses with Knockhill podium

Neave missed the first three rounds of his Superstock Championship debut season, but has proved he is a force to be reckoned with on the bigger bike, following up eighth place at Snetterton with a seventh and second place finishes at Knockhill.

He completed qualifying in ninth place to begin race one from the third row on Saturday and made a clean start to take up seventh position through the first eight laps.

He was passed by Joe Collier and remained in eighth place until he made a pass stick on Lewis Rollo on the final lap to cross the finish line in seventh for nine championship points.

Starting race two from the second row, Neave enjoyed another good start to complete the first lap in third.

On lap two he passed Billy McConnell to move into second and two laps later took the lead from Keith Farmer.

Farmer and Reid demoted him back to third place on lap six in a four-way battle for the lead.

He eventually overtook Reid and was chipping away at Farmer’s two-second lead when Reid crashed heavily on lap 16, bringing out the red flag.

The result was declared at positions on lap 16, giving second place to Tom and 20 championship points.

“To miss the first three races and a load of track time and to come here to a twitchy track and put it on the podium I can’t believe it,” he said.

“My shoulder hasn’t bothered me all weekend so I’m glad I sat patiently and waited, instead of coming back too soon.”

The fine results catapulted Tom up the rider standings to 11th place on 37 points.

His twin brother Tim was also in action, racing in the two British Supersport races.

Starting the 18-lap sprint race from the seventh row he made it through to 15th, with the bonus of a rider ahead being in a different class.

Tim was awarded 14th place and two championship points.

He was due to start Sunday’s 26-lap feature race from the fifth row, but a problem with the throttle made him late to the grid and he was forced to start from the back down in 28th.

Undeterred, Tim made a fantastic start, passing the back markers to complete the first lap in 17th.

He continued to pick up places every few laps until he found himself up into ninth on lap 10.

With more than five seconds separating him from the group ahead, Tim got his head down and chased Bjorn Estment, but ran out of laps and finished little more than a second away from his goal in ninth.

But once again, a rider ahead was not classified in the results, giving Tim an eighth-place finish and eight more championship points.

He is up to 13th in the rider standings on 37 points ahead of the next round at Brands Hatch on July 20-22.