Luke Jones, a local motorbike racer, who has a growing army of supporters in Ross-on-Wye, was at Thruxton in Hampshire over the weekend, competing in the sixth round of the British Superbike Championship.

Luke was riding his 675 Triumph in the Supersport Class. The Friday morning and afternoon sessions were set aside for practice. Both sessions went well for Luke, and he finished third fastest in both sessions, which set the bike up quite well for Saturday’s qualifying.

On the Saturday morning, Luke took part in the sprint race over 12 laps. Qualifying, Luke finished the seventh quickest, which put him on the row three, on the grid for the race in the afternoon.

Luke made his way up through the field and by lap eight was in fourth place, but slipped back to sixth at the chequered flag. After the race, there was an engine problem, so a replacement engine had to be fitted ready for Sunday’s race.

On Sunday morning, there was an eight minute warm up session. Luke had more problems with the engine, these issues were unable to be rectified in time, so he was out of the race in the afternoon.

Luke is still in 4th place in the championship, with 104 points. His next appearance will be at Brands Hatch on August 5th, 6th and 7th.