TEENAGER Liam Delves celebrated his 15th birthday with a superb second place at Thruxton in round seven of the British Motostar 125GP championship on Sunday.
A runner-up spot in the second of his two races elevates Delves up to fourth in the overall rankings on 140 points.
Qualifying went well for the Smiths Wood Sports College student and he finished the session fifth in his class to start the sprint race from the seventh row of the mixed grid of Moto3 and GP125 machines.
But the race did not go to plan as he got a bad start to complete the first few laps in eighth place. By lap seven he made it through to sixth but was beaten back to seventh and then eighth again which is where he stayed after a close battle with Wesley Jonker and Tasia Rodink.
But Sunday’s feature race went much better for the young rider who started his campaign from an eighth row grid position.
As the lights went out he made no mistake and shot away to establish fifth place and was soon up to fourth on the second lap.
Delves was running third within a group of nine riders all of whom were fighting for position and on lap seven he overtook Mark Clayton to take up third place.
Two laps later Clayton re-took his position but still fighting hard, Delves remained in fourth place until the final lap when he was promoted to second place when the two leading GP125 riders crashed.
“I am really happy to get another podium and this time one step higher,” said Delves.
“Perhaps I benefited from the demise of others but those who finish the race take the points.
“I had a great day battling with the leaders and got two good results. I have to thank all my sponsors for their continued assistance and Banks Racing for their hard work over the weekend to put a fantastic bike under me.”
The next round is at Cadwell Park and will now take place over the weekend of August 21-23.
