Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki’s Stuart Easton is closing in on the Riders Cup after respectable fifth and sixth place finishes during the MCE British Superbike double-header at Silverstone yesterday.

But the Scot is not too happy with where he started on the grid for both outings  and feels that qualifying was the only thing that held him back from trying to get on to the podium on Sunday.

He was involved in some scrapes out on track with Honda Racing’s Julien Da Costa in race one, and Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Dan Linfoot in race two – but he held his nerve and the former Motorpoint British Supersport rider did not the pair ride pass, and came home with a firm points haul for his Paul Bird Motorsport team.

“There were some great battles out there and they were some great races out on track. I didn’t have a good starting position but there were some big battles out there,” said Easton, speaking to bikesportnews.com, from the track.

“Qualifying was the only thing that held me back as I started in eleventh in race one and twelfth in race two and I came through to nab fifth and a sixth. I tried to hold my position to the end, and I did that.”