Race tyre struggles for Jones, Crutchlow.

It was a successful weekend for the Northpoint Honda Squad consisting of 20-year-old Craig Jones and 19-year-old Cal Crutchlow at the second round of the British Supersport Championship at Thruxton Race Circuit.

With a fourth and seventh place respectively the two youngsters were extremely content with their results and are looking forward to the third round at Mallory Park in a few weeks time.

Qualifying fourth and eighth on the grid Jones and Crutchlow were both feeling confident and happy with the bike set-up come race day. The weather conditions over the race weekend made things extremely difficult with freezing cold temperatures and strong winds the Northpoint riders were having to battle with the elements.

Jonesy got a fantastic start and was looking very comfortable as he slipped into second place by the first corner. Fighting hard with race leader Stuart Easton, Jonesy made an impressive braking manoeuvre into the final chicane and took the lead. Taking control at the front he was looking smooth but soon started to suffer with tyre problems early in the race on a track, which is renowned for being unforgiving on tyres. This saw him slip back to fourth.

Still extremely content with the result the Peterborough based rider commented; "Although I would have like to have finished on the podium I'm still very pleased to have finished fourth. I was struggling for grip round the circuit but know that I can now lead a race, which gave me great confidence. I got a really strong start and the bike felt fantastic but I started losing grip early on but was adamant that I would finish. I've had a third and fourth so far and I'm lying fourth overall in the Championships with a long way yet to go."

Crutchlow was suffering similar problems to Jones and was locked in a tight battle with Kieran Murphy and Jamie Robinson for fifth place. Both Jones and Crutchlow had not made the correct tyre choice, which caused them some problems. Thruxton is one of the fastest and certainly the bumpiest track in the UK and tyre choice is essential.

"I had the same problems as Jonesy but nevertheless I'm still happy to be on the leader board with some points," commented Crutchlow. "It was a tough race but the bike itself was absolutely fantastic and I can't wait to go to Mallory in a few weeks time. Ideally I would like to be running in the top five and I certainly know that I am capable of that. The team worked really hard this weekend to get everything sorted and they all did a fantastic job. I'd like to thank one of my personal sponsors The Policy Shop for all their help."