YATE'S Luke Hedger bagged a podium place at the Bennetts British Superbike Championships at Oulton Park in the Pirelli National Superstock 1000.

Hedger started brightly posting good times in the wet on the Friday free practice and with some changes to the bike on Saturday he placed fifth on the grid for the first race.

After a tremendous ride, he moved up to fourth and it was a scrap to the line with Chrissy Rouse as Hedger beat him on the line by 0.060.

Team manager Chris Cunnington was delighted along with CPD Kawasaki team.

Hedger was pumped and ready for Sunday's race. Starting in the same grid position as the previous race. He stormed off the line into the first corner, getting pushed wide and in true Superstock 1000 fashion it was not without drama and excitement with Hedger's team-mate, Joe Collier falling on a fuel spillage. There were a total of 11 fallers or breakdowns throughout, including a safety car having to be deployed halfway through the race, which did not play into Hedger's hands as Tom Neave just caught over the line to take the chequered flag moving Luke Hedger back to sixth.

Hedger said: “It was a mega weekend for me and the team, we had a strong pace all weekend and were never out of the top five.

"First race, I knew I had to make the most of my good grid position and I did and was battling for the podium every lap and I had third in the bag.

"I couldn’t get the team and my own first podium in the Superstock 1000 class. The second race didn’t go quite as well as I got pushed wide at the first corner and dropped back to 13th, but I got back to sixth and was battling my way back to the front, which I am really happy with setting my personal best lap time. Again I can’t thank my team enough for all their hard work and effort, as it’s finally paying off."

The next round is at Donington Park at for the penultimate round of the season on 4th - 6th October.