Manxman Gavin Hunt put in a fine performance at Oulton Park on Bank Holiday Monday to finish in 13th place and claim his first points of the season in the 2014 Pirelli National Superstock 1000cc Championship.
 
As per the opening round, the competition was intense and qualifying times tight around the 2.69-mile Cheshire circuit but a lap of 1m39.163s enabled the NEI Motorsport rider to qualify in 23rd place and just half a second off a top ten position.
 
That put him in confident mood for Monday’s 15-lap race and the Douglas rider made the perfect start to complete the first lap in 17th place, an immediate gain of six places. The pace car was soon deployed due to an accident but when racing resumed on the fourth lap Gavin made steady progression, continually closing the gap to the riders in front. Indeed, lapping half a second than what he had done in qualifying he was ultimately rewarded with 13th place and three hard earned Championship points after the race was stopped on the penultimate lap. The quality of his ride could be seen in that he was only five seconds adrift of sixth place.
 
Gavin Hunt: “It’s nice to get inside the top fifteen and pick up some points so early in the season and I’m really pleased with how I rode. We made a bit of a gamble with the set-up of the bike for the second qualifying session and it made the bike a bit of a brute to ride so we reverted back to our original settings for the race. I felt a lot more comfortable with the bike during the race and it enabled me to lap consistently throughout.”
 
“I made some good ground in the early stages and although my pace dropped a bit when I was behind Karl Harris, once I got by I kept an eye on my pit board and put in some really strong, consistent laps. I was catching the riders in front of me and felt confident that if the race had gone full distance I could have sneaked into the top ten but I’m happy enough with the result. It shows I can run with these riders and I’m really looking forward to the next round where I’ll be firmly aiming for a top ten finish.”
 
The next round takes place at Snetterton on June 13-15 but, prior to that, Gavin will make his second appearance at the Isle of Man TT Races with practice around the Mountain Course getting underway on Saturday 24th May.