JORDAN WEAVING had a strong start to his 2014 Motostar Championship campaign at Brands Hatch over the Easter weekend, finishing on the podium, writes Alannah Fellows.

After the Kent circuit was made difficult by torrential rain during qualifying on Sunday, the 16-year-old Cirencester Deer park pupil was able to qualify his KTM in fifth on the grid.

Getting a strong start, the South African was fighting for a podium place for the majority of the race although he was unable to catch race leader Joe Irving, who won by just over a second from 40-year-old Ryan Saxelby.

Saxelby is not a Moto3 rider so Weaving takes second position in the Moto3 championship class.

A delighted Weaving, who finished just two seconds behind the winner, said: "It was a good race, I started well and got into a good rhythm. "Irving got away so I rode within my limits to score points and start the season off well."

The second round of the British Motostar Championships takes at Oulton Park, in Cheshire on May 5.

CIRENCESTER'S Josh Day made a solid start to the 2014 Superstock 1000 season as he secured a 12th-placed finish at Brands Hatch,

The 25-year old rider started from 18th place on Monday's grid after qualifying his Be Wiser Kawasaki in very poor conditions the previous day.

Day had already made up a place when the race was red-flagged on the second lap due to an injured rider.

Riders lined up in their original grid positions for the re-start but Day was soon up into 11th, where he stayed for the remainder of the race eventually crossing the line in 12th.

Day said: "I knew I had to be aggressive in the opening laps to defend my place and I wanted to ensure I was able to run in a strong position.

"I was soon up to 11th but around lap eight I started to struggle with a grip problem so had to adjust how I was riding.

"I was involved in a freight train of riders and I tried to make myself as big as possible in the closing stages of the races as I didn't want to lose out on any positions."

EX-CIRENCESTER Kingshill pupil Dan Cooper also secured two respectable finishes in the opening British Supersport races at Brands Hatch.

Missing out on the opening day at the Kent circuit hindered the Stroud rider, however he didn't let it faze him and put his Tsingtao Wk Kawasaki into 18th position on the grid, just 1.5sec behind Glenn Irwin on pole position.

A good start in race one on Sunday evening put the 26-year-old up into 10th position, a position he held on a wet track following torrential downpours. Irwin was the race winner.

Monday brought sunshine and a dry track and saw Cooper finish his second race in 14th following very little set-up time, with Alistair Seeley winning that race.

Cooper was upbeat about his work.

"Pretty happy with my return to the British Supersport Championship this weekend," he said.

"Two top 15 finishes when we missed the first day and had a few little problems throughout the weekend is a good base to start from.

"I'm looking forward to Oulton Park now and then to the NorthWest 200, that's when the real racing starts"