ELVINGTON motorbike ace Sam Holme is currently sixth in the Thundersport GB 600cc Elite race series.

Holme secured two fifth place finishes and a fourth in three races at Cadwell Park during the televised fourth round of the series.

He has recently split from Phoenix CFS Racing to ride independently and moved up from Pre-National Championship level.

“The results we picked up in the first two rounds were not good enough and I knew something had to change so we decided to part ways,” he admitted.

“I didn’t realise how big the step up is to the Elite championship I am in this year but, round by round, we are getting there.”

Buoyed by an encouraging performance in the third round at Snetterton, Holme knocked 1.2 seconds off his best time during testing at Cadwell Park.

In qualifying, he finished fifth in class, knocking three seconds off his previous best lap time, and started 14th on the grid in the first race.

“I didn’t get a bad start but it wasn’t the best either, getting swamped in the first two corners and losing ground on the leaders,” he said. “I battled hard all race but I was struggling a lot with the front tyre. Although I wanted a better result, we still collected some decent points.”

Holme got off to a poor start in the second race but still finished fifth in class again.

“It wasn’t the result I was hoping for but my lap times were decent and consistent and proof that we had made a step forward,” he said.

The wet weather got worse before the start of the third and final race but this appeared to help Holme’s chances of success. He started in 18th position on the grid but battled through the pack after yet another poor start.

“I got up to 10th but my steering damper wasn’t working properly,” he said. “Every time I was flat out I was getting massive ‘tank slappers’ due to all the standing water. At 160mph and above, it was ‘interesting’ to say the least! Instead of risking a massive crash, I decided to back off and take the points instead which was annoying because I was on the brink of making a move up to 9th. But we finished 4th in class which is a good result in what was a very tricky race.

“We are on the right track and I’m looking forward to the next round at Mallory Park (June 22-25),” he added.

Anyone interested in sponsoring Sam should contact samholme10@gmail.com