MOTUL British Motostar Championship leader Jordan Weaving had a tough weekend on the Dutch circuit of Assen in the latest round of the series, but lost only one point to his principal rival, Joe Irving.

Following his dramatic win in the previous round at Donington, the 17-year-old Cirencester Deer Park student from near Stroud, arrived in the Netherlands with a 34-point lead.

Combining the Motostar races and Dutch Moto3 events made for a busy weekend. However, Weaving and his team took it all in their stride.

Struggling on the opening day of practice after an engine change Jordan was still able to finish in the top ten. However, a further late-night engine change ensured he found a faster pace for qualifying and he started the race from seventh spot on the grid.

Jordan finished the race in sixth, 19 seconds behind local race winner Bo Bendsneyder, but crucially only one place behind his main championship challenger Irving.

Weaving said: "It's been the busiest week of racing I have ever had.

"We did an engine swap before Assen and it didn't run right.

"My brother, dad and I were up until 1.15am doing another engine swap. I then went two seconds faster the next day and qualified in seventh for the main race.

"It went well and I was happy with sixth considering we had problems and that we had our first crash of the season yesterday."

Weaving has two more rounds of the series at Silverstone and Brands Hatch before he can be crowned champion.