Steve rode to a fine seventh place in round ten of the National Superstock championship at Croft Circuit in North Yorkshire on Sunday to edge nearer to fifth place in the overall championship with two races remaining.

Steve is mounting a comeback after his accident during practice for the North West 200 races in May, made steady progress throughout the weekend to complete his qualifying in 11th place and made a start to his race from a third row grid position. He said: “It was not so good for me this morning because it rained just before our session which made the track conditions a bit inconsistent. But it cleared up for the second session and that went very well for me. I managed to get within a second of the lap record so I am quite happy with my times. I am not going to be winning the race tomorrow for sure but I am pretty confident with the way I am riding at the moment and am building back up to getting into the front places. That was a good result for me and I am quite happy but of course its tomorrow that counts.”

As the race got underway Steve made a steady start, settling into 14th place on the first lap. But he soon got into his stride and began to make his move upfield.

He became embroiled in a three way battle for ninth place with David Paton and Kenny Gilbertson and finally overcame the pair, going on to cross the finish line in seventh position to pick up nine championship points. Although he remains in sixth place in the overall standings Steve has edged to within three points of a top five position which, after sitting out six of the 13 rounds is a credit to his riding skills.

“I am really happy with that,” said Steve. “I wanted to improve on the Cadwell result but more importantly I wanted to improve my lap times. I was only 0.8s away from the fastest lap which I was well happy with. I am still struggling a little bit with fitness, especially in the letter stages and more so in the braking areas as I am getting a bit weak towards the end of the race. But that’s not me whinging, I am well happy with seventh and will keep building from here really. It’s all about building my strength ready for next season. Hopefully I can keep cracking on and maybe get a sniff of the podium before the end of the season.”

The penultimate round of the championship is at Silverstone on September 26 where Steve will face learning a new track as it has been redesigned this year. He will be at a slight disadvantage as the series visited the Northamptonshire circuit earlier in the year as a support to MotoGP. But Steve missed out on the two races at the beginning of August as he was still recovering from his accident.