YATE’S Luke Hedger is hoping to finish his season on a high after last weekend’s British Supersports Championship round ten.

It has been a very tough season for Hedger.

In the first half of the year Hedger was riding for Gearlink and, after being plagued with constant technical problems, he and the team parted company.

It happened in round five of the competition and left Hedger without a ride.

For round six, Hedger competed in the stock 1000 Championship after G&S Kawasaki jump to his aid.

This went really well and the team were great but Hedger wanted to finish the session out back in Supersport and thankfully team Apple yard Macadam Racing and Hedger joined forces for the following round.

Hedger had a good result in the first race with them finishing in sixth.

But since then, Hedger’s result have dropped off a bit as the team have brought some new parts and both Hedger and the team have been having problems trying to set them up.

Going into last weekend at Donnington Park – the two practice sessions and qualifying – Hedger was still struggling to get into the top ten.

So, after a long discussion and a lot of thought, the team and Hedger decided to put the bike back to how it was the first time Hedger rode it.

This was a risk but it was a risk worth takin. The only change was a setting for race one so they had to put in a rough setting and hope it was good.

It was not one hundred per cent perfect but Hedger had much more feeling on the bike and was able to push through from 12th place off the grid to finishing in eighth place.

The team made some more changes overnight and Hedger got the chance to try these out in the eight minute warm-up session on Sunday morning.

Hedger was sixth fastest and felt good and confident for race two later that day. Hedger had to start race two from 13th position so it was important for him to get a good start.

He did just that and got a brilliant start, gaining two places.

By lap four, Hedger had gained another two positions. In the next four laps, Hedger set his sights on seventh place take lumps out of his lead on them.

He was side by side with another racer called Hedger Jones and Jones managed to reach seventh place.

Hedger was then in an exciting eight-lap battle with rival Ben Currie for eighth place.

This was amazing to watch as both riders constantly changing places and it was extremely close over the finishing line.

Hedger also set the sixth fastest lap time in the race.

The competition has been a very good confident’ s builder for young Hedger with two very good eighth places.

And now, with the massive steps that have been made in such a short space of time, both Hedger and the team have a good base to finish the session on a high.

Hedger said: “I don’t want to dwell on the bad things for the beginning of this year but it has made it really difficult for me.

“I have had so much support through out all this from my friends and family, and I finally feel settled, Team Appleyard and my sponsors have had my back through all this and I am so grateful to everyone that has stood by me.

“And I am now in a good place and hopefully the results will follow.”

The next round see all three British classes go to the Assen TT circuit in the Netherlands in two weeks time.