Samsung Suzuki's Jon Kirkham got a boost from racing in front of his home crowd at Donington Park's British Superbike round and that, coupled with increased confidence, inspired him to 'pull his finger out' and bag a long-awaited second podium.

Kirkham had to deal with last year's champion and runner-up Ryuichi Kiyonari and Josh Brookes on his way to third place in the second outing after leaders Shane Byrne and Michael Laverty crashed at the first corner on the opening lap.

"It's been a long time coming. You don't wanna finish on the podium when people go down like that and it's nice to have it fair and square. I had a bit of do with Brookes at the hairpin, hit him a little bit but he gives as good as he gets. I was in the 29s and clawing Tommy back a little bit but there wasn't enough time," said Kirkham, speaking in the post-race press conference.

"A lot of my confidence came at Cadwell to be honest. We played around with the bike a lot and I got a fourth and two sixth-places. It's a home round here, all my friends are here so that gives you more of an incentive to pull your finger out.

"I'm really pleased. I was looking for two top-fives this weekend, so a fifth and a third is more than job done. I got caught behind Ryuichi Kiyonari early in the first race and this let the leaders get away, it was only a matter of a couple of seconds, but it's so hard to pull that back given the pace at the front.

"The second race was brilliant fun. I could see from my pit board that I was being chased hard and when Kiyo slowed I had to pass quickly and make something of a break if it wasn't going to get messy. I got my head down and from there to the end of the race I wouldn't let my speed drop."