COLCHESTER'S Tom Oliver had mixed feelings about his performance in the second round of the Dickies British Supersport Championship at Brands Hatch Indy track.

Competing for SGR Racing, he secured a seventh-place finish in race one and a crash in race two following a strong weekend all round.

Oliver said: “Although the weekend didn’t end how we wanted it to, there were still a lot of positives to take from it.

"We were consistently running in the top group and I was mixing it with the fast boys.

"My SGR Racing Yamaha felt strong as did I and I now need to turn my attention to the next round at Oulton Park.

"Thanks to my team, all my sponsors and family for their hard work, which helps keep me racing.”

Qualifying round the undulating Kent circuit went well for Oliver, who put the SGR Racing Yamaha into seventh place on the grid.

The short sharp sprint race over 18 laps saw Oliver get off to a good start and he was up to fourth place when the red flag came out.

The re-start ran over 16 laps and due to the bikes having to go through two starts, the Yamaha was having some over-heating issues.

This slowed Oliver somewhat but he still managed to finish in seventh with a lap time good enough to place him sixth on the grid for the feature race.

It started well with Oliver running in a solid fourth place once again.

However, as the race progressed he slipped down the order to eighth place and then crashed out at Graham Hill bend due to a lack of grip on the front tyre. Thankfully, Oliver walked away from the front end crash unscathed but it was a disappointing end to what had been a positive weekend.

SGR Racing team owner Stephen Kinghorn said: “Well this weekend sums up the saying ‘that’s racing.’

"Tom was feeling confident and had complete faith in his team and our bike which was working great.

"We need to investigate Tom’s crash as he felt he lacked front end grip but just in the race.

"We will come back fighting at the next round at Oulton Park.

"I’d like to thank all our supporters and sponsors for their continued support.”

The third round of the Dickies Supersport Championship takes place on May 5-7.