Lewis Cornish is still firing on all Supermotos cylinders

With much anticipation the Nameplate Services/DCR Supermoto Team headed for Three Sisters in Wigan with their star rider's eyes firmly set on another respectable top 10 finish.

Early in the meeting, Caister star Lewis Cornish pulled into the pits explaining he felt his race bike was losing significant power, to which end the team set about a long and technically difficult task of identifying the problem.

Without the benefits of a spare race bike a top 10 finish looked unlikely. However, managing the eventually discovered problem, the Norfolk youngster still scooped a brace of seventh and eighth places in the 450 and Open Elite classes despite the handicap.

Lewis and the teams' determination ensured further points scoring in the British Supermoto Championship, leaving Lewis well within the top 10 of the 2011 season standings. Thankfully due to the investigative work of the team, the next race meeting saw Lewis and his bike back to their regular 100 per cent form.

Crail, Fife was the location for the Scottish Masters and National Challenge, a mammoth 1,100-mile round trip to one of the most picturesque race tracks.

With a strong field of international standard riders and local Crail Raceway specialists, Lewis placed an impressive fifth at the end of Saturday's qualifying.

The superbly prepared circuit and sunny weather ensured some fierce and spectacular race action and Cornish made sure he was right in the thick of it.

A titanic battle with former Scottish Champion Jack Gow saw Lewis make his move in the last corner of the race and pip his rival on the line for fourth place.

A better place on the grid for race two helped Lewis take a well earned third at the flag, and for race three a truly awesome bar to bar race with Dave Harltey resulted in the spoils going to Hartley via a last lap dash for the remaining podium place.

The last race of the day and Lewis lined up alongside David Hartley, Richard Blakeman, Neil Craystone and Davey Todd as Team England took on Ireland and Scoland in the 2011 Nations Challenge. Off the grid young Cornish fired like a missile passing five riders on the first lap alone – and he finished runner-up, which contributed towards England's Nations Challenge Shield win.

'I was really determined to make up places off the start because you have to be very aggressive at Crail to make a pass; the bike launched perfectly,' said Cornish. 'Although it was a long trip it was worth it because the Scottish riders, teams and organisers are all so helpful and friendly, and going home with some prize money didn't do any harm either.'

Many thanks must go out to Team Nameplate Services sponsor Billy Holt who recently came up trumps with the purchase of a new race bike for Lewis.