THE seventh round of the Hel Performance Motostar Championship was held on the Brands Hatch GP circuit last weekend.

Somerset racer TJ Toms had a positive start on the Friday morning in free practice.

Throughout the session he was progressively reducing his lap times. His lap time of 1:38.761 placed him fifth quickest in the Moto3 standard class.

This weekend Toms switched to Pirelli tyres and whether that has had an affect or not he ended Q1 third quickest.

The half an hour session saw Toms take 1.2 seconds off his free practice time.

Q2 on the Saturday morning was very close with the top five riders separated by just a second and the riders from second to fifth by just 0.532 seconds.

TJ Toms was unable to improve his Q1 time so slipped from third to fifth and was looking for a good start in the race.

Although fifth fastest in the standard class TJ Toms lined up 22nd on the start grid, nine places behind the fastest standard rider. This is because the GP and standard classes are combined for the race.

This left him needing a good start to stay with the fastest riders in his class. Toms didn’t disappoint making up three places in the first lap.

By the half-way stage he overtook Mark Clayton to go second in his category. Unfortunately, with the leading standard rider having made a gap in the early laps Toms set about ensuring he held his second place.

In fact he opened a gap of over two seconds over the third placed rider making a welcome return to the podium.

Later the same day, the Motostar standard class had a second race, to make up for one that was cancelled at an earlier round. This time they were lined up on a grid in front of the Moriwaki Junior 250 Cup riders meaning there would be less traffic to deal with.

TJ made the most of this and launched himself from the middle of the second row into second position by the end of the first lap. The racing was close with several riders trading places throughout the race as fractions of a second separated the competitors. Unable to make a break Toms slipped to 6th just after the half-way stage with each rider on the back wheel of the one in front. Digging deep Toms fought to recover and finish in fourth position as they crossed the line.

On Sunday the final Motostar race got underway mid-afternoon and TJ Toms was determined to do well.

He made a great start running second and whilst he was unable to close the gap to the race winner he pulled an 8 second gap over the third place rider to pick up his second podium finish of the weekend. Apart from being on the podium and second in his class he finished eleventh overall in a race which included the Moto3 GP machines alongside the standard class bikes like TJ’s.

TJ Toms said: "It was great to be back on the podium and I feel really comfortable on the bike again this weekend.

"Two podiums and I’m second in the championship again. Also in my last race I finished second in my class and eleventh overall which was an amazing feeling.

"Thanks to Gary Wilson for providing me a great bike again. Also thanks to my sponsors, Warren Bright Racing Foundation, Swindon Karting, SRC Driver Training, SMW Limited, Skills Direct, Munchkins Catering, K&B Motors, Johnson Metals, Oxford products, Daytona Boots, Auritech, MustHaveMediaServices.com and my Grandad."